A Higher Truth
by sleepykit
Summary: Sometimes, searching for the truth is a tad more complicated than following the arrows. Ch 15 AU
1. Long Road to Ruin

_Long road to ruin, there in your eyes..._

Most days, I'd wake up completely oblivious to my own dreams, but that morning the damn alarm clock startled me straight out of dreamland. Reaching out, I fumbled blindly with the fucking thing—did I mention I hate alarm clocks?—and finally it shut up. One eye opened just enough to stare at the off-white ceiling that had once been painted black. One can only begin to guess at my older brother's state of mind by the previous colors that adorned this particular room, and I was in no mood to try.

"Sasuke, are you up yet?" called a familiar voice through an open window.

I stuck out my tongue and rolled my eyes because even without looking I knew it was Naruto and didn't want to face him. I could practically imagine him standing on the ground below my second-story window, dressed in something bright-orange and distinctly tacky, and holding a bag of donuts. Considering we live out in the middle of nowhere, I wondered some days how he managed to get freshly baked anything this early in the morning.

Slipping out of bed, because avoiding the were-fox is an exercise in futility, I stumbled over to the window, dressed in flannel pajama bottoms, and pulled open the curtains. Damn it was cold, but that's Cali spring weather for you—days are mind-melting hot and humid and nights take you back to the throes of winter. Goosebumps crawled lazily up my arms just in case the chill alone wasn't uncomfortable enough.

"It's six in the morning. What the fuck could you possibly want?" _Let's not mention that my own alarm is set for this particularly damned hour, shall we._

Staring down at the pale-haired man I discovered I'd been partially right; he was orange, but no donuts. Naruto's tall at six feet something and all muscle, though it comes with the territory; were-creatures are predators by nature and it shows. His blue eyes watched me and it instantly turned into a staring contest.

He's the alpha male of a mixed-animal pack, but alpha nonetheless, and it's in their very nature to glare down possible opponents. I had a strong urge to look away because, in the world from whence he hails, he's a leader and I'm subordinate. It helps that I'm, relatively speaking, human and all the rules need not apply but still... _Pain in the ass!_

He growled, which amounted to a stalemate and grinned. "Just checking up on you."

"Before sunrise?" I raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

He deflected the question entirely. "Mind if I come in?"

I grumbled under my breath. "Fine. It's not like I can say 'no,' damn it."

"Technically you could," he countered.

"Would it help?"

"Not at all." The man was now grinning from one tanned ear to the other.

I waved him toward the door with a foul look. "Then why would I bother?"

I watched Naruto walk around the side of the house before making a bee-line for the closet and getting dressed in a hurry. When I came downstairs and opened the front door, he was already there, towering over me and holding onto a stack of manila folders. _Not work related unless gym trainers are now required to fill forms out in triplicate,_ I thought as he stepped past me into the house. No invitation needed.

I watched him stalk straight into the small garage attached to the side of the house and vanish inside. I'm no fan of old, rusty cars but it used to be grandpa's favorite hobby so a bunch of them are still sitting in there, in various states of disrepair, and gathering dust. What the blonde could possibly expect to find, save moths and mold, was beyond me.

When he emerged, only slightly less orange now that he was dust-covered, I glared in his general direction. Entirely un-phased, he walked into the kitchen and dropped the folders unceremoniously on the island table. I stood in the door way, leaning up against the frame, and watched him putter about.

"What are you doing?"

He gestured to the now running coffee maker. "Coffee."

"Naruto, why are in my house at this ungodly hour, making _coffee_ of all things?" My voice came out calm and collected, almost sarcastic.

He glanced once toward the newly made pile on the table. "There's been some...unfortunate deaths..." His voice trailed off into nothingness.

"What do you mean?"

I reached over and grabbed the folder on top, noting the police scribble on the front and the neat label. Carefully, I pulled it open and instantly regretted the decision. Photos graced the front page, taken at night with a powerful flash. Blood had splattered everywhere; it covered the body and slid down the sidewalk in a giant puddle. The victim—she was a woman although the corpse was too mutilated to make even that much out—lay naked and spread eagle in the middle of an alley. Entrails spewed from her abdomen. Stunned, I couldn't tear my eyes away from the murder scene; there was no question that the long-haired woman was very much dead.

"Uh..."

Naruto must've expected this reaction because he took the folder from my numb hands and led me gently—as gently as can be for a creature strong enough to lift small cars—over to the nearest chair. I sat down and stared blankly into the distance for a moment. The shock passed, eventually. It always does.

By then the coffee was done, and the blonde placed one green mug on the table in front of me. He doesn't really drink coffee, or any caffeine-laced beverages, because they tend to wreak havoc with the shifters' metabolism. I looked up and found him holding a glass of orange juice, not smiling anymore.

"That's not some unfortunate death."

He glared at me. "Drink."

A sip of the bitter liquid did absolutely nothing for my stomach, but at least it was warm as it slid down my throat. "Naruto?"

He sat down opposite from me at the table and leaned back in the overly small, wooden chair. "She was a Watcher, and the latest in a string of six such murders. The police don't have any leads on the perpetrator, but the suspicion among the were-packs is that whatever did this isn't human."

Watchers are people like me, human in the sense that we possess no super-human abilities. I don't jump higher or run faster than a normal person, in other words. Yet, we are perceptive enough to notice the supernatural; I can tell a werewolf on sight where a normal person will walk right by and never notice. We're also called to the highest truth, hence the name; when supernatural events close in on the human world, we stand in as witnesses. My mother died for the purpose; she followed the call that cannot be stopped to her own death.

"Is someone targeting Watchers?"

"It would appear so," agreed my pale-haired companion, "but we don't have any real answers, yet."

I raised an eyebrow. "So what does it have to do with me?"

"I wanted to make sure you weren't involved, all right." He frowned. "Look, kid, I promised your grand-dad I'd look after you."

"I'm not a kid anymore!"

He laughed, though it didn't reach his cold, blue gaze. "You'll always be a kid in my book, Sasuke."

"Fuck you."

It was true, though. Shape-shifter don't really age as fast as normal people; he'd outlived my grandfather and would likely still be here, blond and tan and grinning, by the time they scattered my ashes to the wind. I glanced up and saw sadness and longing in his bright eyes; it puzzled me. He had everything, a pack, honor, and strength. What more could a man like him possibly want?

"Just be careful, all right? That's all I ask."

I shrugged, feeling a little sick still. "Fine."

His pager went off and he got up so quickly the chair tipped over. I watched him rush out of the kitchen and heard the front door open and then close again. He was like that, and yet today he'd been different. Naruto's outspoken and casual—one reason why the women at the gym like him—yet he'd been guarded with me, careful with his words. I figured he wasn't being completely honest.

_Ah, but for want of a horseshoe..._


	2. Eye of the Tiger

_It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight_...

I had one of Grandfather's old CDs playing on his ancient boom-box while I sorted through his personal possessions. The man was gone and buried for the three months, so I suspected he wouldn't mind parting with any of them. He'd been a pack-rat all his life and a magic user for a large portion of it, which left me with the gruesome task of sorting through his many trinkets and souvenirs, if only to make sure they weren't dangerous. _Can't exactly sell some old watch to a pawnshop and then discover it can turn back time or shoot forth lightning._ Already several items had tried to attack, leaving me with a nice bruise on my arm and several nasty scratches.

I dusted off an old umbrella and remembered the first—and only—time the old man taken me fishing. Back then, and I must've been no more than six, we'd gone to some secluded lake, where he proceeded to politely ask the fish to jump out of the water and into his pail. To my then surprise, the fish had obeyed questionlessly. I had assumed that all grandparents were a little eccentric.

_Turns out Gran was a real nut case and the rest of my family was simply suicidal._

I was working on a particularly messy closet in the back of his old office when I heard the sound of a purring engine. I might not be a car geek of Gran's caliber, but even I knew that someone had tuned the sucker before showing up here. Standing up, I brushed my hands off on my already dust-ridden trousers and headed outside, feeling nervous and on edge. Problem is, I'm sixteen and legally not an adult—Naruto pulled some strings to get me my independence—so random strangers made me wary.

What stopped in front of the garage barely resembled a car. Once, it had been a white Honda something, but the body was now dented into near oblivion and the paint had rusted off years ago. The license plates were out of state and from half-way across the damn continent. It certainly didn't match up with the sound of its idling engine. What emerged from behind the cracked windshield looked absolutely stunning.

She stood only slightly shorter than my own five feet eight, with shoulder-length practically white hair and bright green eyes. Her summer dress swirled as she walked toward me, looking about hesitantly. Grandpa had a car-repair business going, one I'd closed down after his passing. No one had stopped in for weeks now; most people had gotten the hint right after the black hearse came and took him away.

The stranger approached me and smiled—one of those dumb blonde looks. "Are you Mr. Uchiha?"

"Um..." I tried not to blush at her gaze but failed. "Yeah, I guess."

"Do you do any car restoration?" she asked softly. "Your shop came recommended by a friend."

I shook my head. "That was grandpa's line of work, and he's not here."

"When will he be back?"

It sounded so innocent and yet, it managed to really sting. The old man, much as I didn't like him, wasn't coming back. I tried to glare at her but couldn't muster the resolve.

"Never."

"Oh." She frowned. "I'm sorry to hear that."

Curiosity killed the cat. "What kind of car is it?"

"It's '66 Camero."

"Oh, wow," I replied, pretending however briefly that I knew enough to be impressed. At least it sounded old.

She pulled out a card and extended it in my general direction, apparently not nearly as put off by the barefoot sixteen-year-old as one might expect. "If you know of someone who can help, would you please give them this? I'm really desperate."

I took the little slip of paper and found that it smelled of some expensive perfume. "Yeah, sure, definitely."

"Well, hey, thanks anyway."

She walked through the dirt in her white high-heels, slipped behind the wheel of her Frankenstein car, and drove away. I stood there for a moment longer before glancing casually down at the card itself. "Ino Yamanaka," it read and I figured Japanese, maybe Chinese.

It occurred to me only after she was gone that the first Chevrolet Camero hadn't been sold until 1967.

***

I barely managed to walk back into the house, determined to look up some good mechanic in the area, when the phone rang. I have exactly three friends, and none of them use phones for various reasons. So, the ringer actually startled me at first, and I had to hunt through a pile of newspapers to get to the cordless handset. God only knows where the rest of the phone was hiding; my gaze rested uncertainly at the large purple couch as the culprit of this loss.

"Hello, Uchiha residence?"

The voice on the other end sounded unintentionally seductive. "Hey, bro, it's your one and only."

"One and only bloodsucker," I grumbled knowing that my brother would hear it. "Shouldn't you be in a coffin somewhere, hiding from the sun?"

He laughed, but it sounded forced. "It's almost sunset, if you'd care to glance outside. I know you aren't a fan of the sun, either."

Where most normal humans tan, I turn tomato colored. It's not quite the same as bursting into flames at the sight of sunlight, but sunscreen and I have gotten to be very good friends.

"Something's wrong," I said calmly and took a seat on said sofa, afraid briefly of being swallowed whole.

"You're too perceptive for your own good," he replied. "Is your pet around?"

"You mean Naruto? No. Why would he be here?"

Vampires and were-animals don't exactly all like each other. Just because they are both completely above and beyond the laws of nature doesn't apparently mean they have to be friends. Wolves tend to hunters and vampires the hunted far as that battle goes. Luckily for me, Watchers are perfectly neutral.

"Good." He sighed. "Look, just do me a favor and stay out of LA for a couple of weeks. Keep your head down, if you know what I mean."

Gran's farm is about three hours' drive from Los Angeles, and I tend to make the trip only when strictly necessary. Of course, my brother's been dead for over three years, and in that time he's called exactly twice, so he couldn't possibly have known that.

In Gran's household, we didn't talk about Itachi. There's a computer game I love to play where the main character is faced with a mad dash through a zombie-infested cemetery. Just before he enters, his companion says, "We don't go to Ravenholm," and you instantly know that there's no room for argument. My grandfather talked about Itachi in much the same tone of voice.

"Does it have anything to do with the murders?" I asked as the first threads of purpose stirred.

"That's just the tip of the iceberg," my brother confirmed quietly. "Be careful, all right? Alive or not, you're still my little brother."

"I'm not little..."

He laughed again, more casually this time. "Yeah, I know. Anyway, be safe."

"Yeah," I whispered as he hung up. "Safe..."

The manila folders still lay on the kitchen table, untouched from that morning, and I felt the need to look at those images one more time. Imagine for a moment being a moth and seeing the flame and knowing you could never resist. That is what Watchers call purpose, the driving force. The flame is supposedly truth, although exactly like a moth, finding truth can also mean getting badly burned.

Standing up, I put the phone down on the nearby TV stand—I had no idea what actually happened to the TV itself—and headed for the kitchen once more.

It took will power to open all six folders and arrange the picture on the counter by the window, sorted by date. Looking at them made my stomach ill, though I hadn't eaten all day and my unfinished coffee still stat in the sink. Reaching out, I ran my fingers--thin and long--over the pictures of discarded bodies.

The thought felt right; the corpses looked like they'd been brutally used--eaten?--and then tossed casually aside. Off hand, I could think of no creature that would do such a thing; even the predators didn't waste like this. All the blood meant it wasn't a vampire, unless it was particularly dumb and stupid.

Sighing, I picked up the phone and dialed Naruto.


	3. Hungry Like the Wolf

_I'm on the hunt, I'm after you..._

"Drive me to LA."

I suppose it would have been smarter to ask Naruto politely, seeing as how he owned the Jeep and he had a driver's license, but I felt incredibly disinclined to argue. Instead, I perched on the edge of the kitchen counter, not ten inches from the last of crime scene photographs, and twirled a pencil in one hand.

The voice on the other end of the phone sounded vaguely annoyed. "When?"

"Now?"

The edge of the call was starting to dull, however slightly, and with it the urgency. I felt like it was all right to breathe again, to consider dinner and possibly sleep above and beyond needing to know. I've been told that my mother, who was also a Watcher, had felt much the same but I was three when she departed from this world and I guess I'll never really know.

"You sure about this?"

I nodded even though he couldn't see me. "Yeah."

"All right, I'll be over in an hour," he said almost agreeably now and hung up.

I looked at the calendar and winced, realizing it was practically the full moon tonight. Not only had I just interrupted the alpha from his monthly pack meeting, but he was probably already in a foul mood. Kind of made me wonder why he agreed to go in the first place, but I decided right then not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

Instead, I trudged upstairs and showered. It was a kind of relief to go about normal daily tasks after staring at the pictures, like maybe the shock wasn't a permanent thing, maybe I'd sleep soundly again. Washed and no longer a giant dust magnet, I dressed in a pair of black pants and a long-sleeved shirt; most of my clothes are black nowadays because it's easier to pretend I'm Goth than to explain that I'm just a backwater hick with bad skin.

_Not that many people ask anymore..._

I got my GED in April, so I didn't even have to attend school anymore, nor see the bullies that seemed so abundant there. Looking in the mirror didn't yield much; I'm a walking twig with dark hair that refuses to behave. Dark eyes, deathly pale skin. I actually look a bit like my Dad, going by the only picture of the man that survived the flames.

I wandered idly back into the living room and looked around one more time, just taking in the way it felt cozy and homely. I planned on selling the place and moving to LA full time as soon as I could figure out what to do with all of the family junk. I kind of think I was going to miss it.

The sound of the door bell startled me. I rushed over and opened said door, instantly relieved that it was Naruto there and not some stranger. He looked me over once, got this crooked smile, and came inside.

"I was kind of hoping you weren't involved."

I nodded. "I figured that's why you brought the files..."

"So what changed?"

"Itachi called..."

Naruto growled, although not at me. "I told the bastard to steer clear."

"Relax, Naruto. He warned me to do the same."

"Still, I don't want that bloodsucker anywhere near you. It's just not healthy."

I managed a smirk. "Dying never is." Switching topics, I said, "LA?"

He gestured toward the Jeep parked in the middle of what had once been a lawn. It had slowly fallen to the weeds, courtesy mostly of my own neglect, so I didn't care if he squished what remained of it. Silently, I walked toward the car and got into the passenger seat.

"Where do you wanna go, once we get to LA?"

"The last crime scene should be fine. It's the most fresh."

He closed my front door, got in and started the car. I stared out the passenger-side window at the darkness that encompassed the farm. Save the lights still on inside the house, it was pitch black, although this is a human problem. Were-animals can see just fine in the night.

Naruto drives like a total maniac because he has reflexes the likes of which I can't even imagine. I'm sure it comes in handy when trying to freak me out, although that night it wasn't exactly successful. I sat back as we passed miles and miles of fields and an occasional lamp post, tossed in for posterity. The silence felt stifling and after only ten minutes, I couldn't stand it any longer.

"Naruto?"

He glanced at me, then purred. "Yeah?"

"Is there anything about these murders you didn't tell me?"

"Maybe..." His voice faded as he stared straight ahead, not so much as a glance my way.

"All right."

Normally, I would have asked more questions but it occurred to me a long time ago that once I'd seen the crime scene, I'd know more about the situation than most people.

"I really wish you'd reconsider."

_You don't understand,_ I thought but didn't say it. Even grandfather hadn't really understood, not me, not his own daughter. "I know."

"You're sixteen. You've got your whole life ahead of you."

I knew exactly what he meant by that statement because I'd heard it before. Gran used to talk about how my mother had wasted her own life chasing after ghosts. He would lecture me for hours on end about taking control of ones own destiny. He couldn't understand what it felt like to have purpose. Explaining it to others had never worked before, but with Naruto... I don't know, I guess I had hope.

"Imagine an urge that doesn't go away. Imagine needing to go somewhere so badly that your feet might be bleeding and you wouldn't stop. That's why I can't just let this go."

He chuckled. "Your mother said much the same. She used to pray, when she was pregnant with you, that you'd never feel that way."

"Someone has to see the truth to the end." I shrugged.

"Why can't it be someone else," said my blond companion ruefully.

That remained the single question I could never accurately answer or understand. Watchers are born; it's not a matter of heredity, although shitty luck still happens, but it's not a learned art either. Just as my mother could not train me, I would never be able to show anyone else how to do it. There was never really any "doing", so to speak.

We drove in silence a while longer before the lights of Los Angeles finally came into view. Beyond the fields and the lonely houses, the city bloomed like a flower. Even in the middle of the night, it was busy and bustling. Big cities don't sleep, they say, and that's definitely true with LA. I rode like a sack of potatoes, completely unfamiliar with the street layout. I could probably still get home with a map and compass, but the locations of favorite places eluded me.

As a kid, I'd never been a big fan of coming to town and Gran had me too occupied most of the time to do normal teenage things. When I turned thirteen, Naruto had started showing me around, but he likes beaches and obscure bars--the kind that catered to shape shifters--which left me with no lasting impressions.

Finally, Naruto stopped the car next to an alleyway and turned off the engine. Yellow tape covered the mouth of the alleyway and a sign proclaimed that it was prohibited to enter, but no cops were guarding the area. I got out of the car with the blonde at my heels and instantly felt the need to keep moving; something up ahead called out to me.

I wanted to tell Naruto to keep his distance--only my Guardian should follow--but couldn't form the words to say it aloud. Watchers are normally guarded by, well, Guardians--all creativity was clearly lacking back in the eighth century when someone came up with these names--people who've chosen to put themselves into danger on behalf of their wards. The were-fox had no such relationship to me, he had no reason to get involved.

My mother had my dad, for as long as he'd been sane. I still had no one and since my odds are currently one in six billion people, I wasn't exactly holding my breath. With a Guardian, it's pretty much all telepathy and silence; they are supposed to know you like the back of their own hand. Naruro was perceptive, but I wasn't exactly being communicative. I prayed that the blonde would take a hint, not that a whole lot could stop a walking bulldozer.

As soon as my feet stepped close enough to the scene, I was assaulted by the smell of blood and urine. I reached out, only to be pulled by a strong hand on my shoulder.

"Sasuke?" I could hear a hint of warning in his voice.

_I have to._

The blonde ripped through several layers of yellow tape, frowning all the while, then said, "All right..." I didn't pause to wonder if he could hear my thoughts or if he was that good at body language.

_She had been pretty and young, a college student still shouldering her backpack after night classes. She had wanted to go home, but something wouldn't let her. Investigating--she couldn't just let it go--she walked into the alley and knew that someone waited. She felt it in the shadows but there was no running from it now. _

Her screams echoed in my own head, her story etched in my brain like a badly cut up film. Even as I stood there, holding back a terrified scream of my own, I knew that whatever killed her was close. It was waiting for its next prey, and it knew that the pray was coming. How I came to possess this knowledge remained to be seen.

Briefly I felt like the pale-haired student...

"Sasuke?" Naruto looked worried. "Talk to me kiddo."

I couldn't form the words to explain any of it. _Follow me,_ I thought vaguely. _It's close._

The blonde growled and was suddenly not a man anymore. Discarded clothes lay amidst the dried blood and what stood next to me looked like a giant fox. Normal foxes don't grow to half his size, and he towers over most wolves. Naruto is the Alpha for a reason; he's more than earned the title.

_Get on!_

I turned to watch him as my own eyes bled from black to crimson; I knew it was happening because I could feel it. Once I'd stood in front of a mirror when it happened, so I knew for a fact they looked strange. Three dots twirled in there; it was a tad creepy, even for me.

Silently, I obeyed and he moved forward, sleek and steady on his feet. We walked slowly into the darkness where street lights didn't shine, and came to a wall. Beyond it, something howled; it was a blood wrenching sound that absolutely terrified me.

_Up ahead,_ I thought. "Ahead..."

_Relax, Sasuke. _Naruto sounded perfectly calm even inside my own head. _This isn't just the call. You shouldn't be struggling this much._

_Huh?_

I didn't quite understand what he was saying but it sounded important enough to make me pay attention. I didn't even notice that he wasn't speaking aloud nor that the alley was no longer just poorly lit; light was actually absent.

_Whatever's here is calling to you in whatever way Watchers normally find their way. I don't know what kind of a creature can do that, but its pull is a lot stronger than anything I've seen._

"How?" I said it aloud just so I could hear my own voice. _How do you know?_

_Your mother loved to talk about it. _If he wasn't a fox, I'd swear he was frowning. _But she was quite clear on this, kiddo, you should never _not_ be capable of speech on account of the call. It may be a need but it shouldn't be stronger than your own basic instincts. _

_Wouldn't know._

It was my first time doing anything even remotely Watcher-related. I'd been drawn into some odd situations before, but never anything dangerous or violent. Usually, we get invited to major holidays and what not because someone should be keeping record of time's passage. Nothing like this, though.

He sighed and jumped over a seven-foot-tall fence like it was nothing. I clung to his fur and prayed that we weren't both going to end up splattered on the other side. Thankfully for me, Naruto knew what he was doing even if I didn't.

_Maybe it's the pictures?_

He stopped briefly and asked, _Huh?_

_Maybe something about the arrangement of the bodies is like a spell of some kind. Maybe this didn't call me here until I looked at the photos and saw whatever it wanted a Watcher to see?_

_And once you got here?_

_Just like the previous victim, its call is irresistible. _

_Now if only I had that kind of power over you, we'd be at home, watching some horror flick instead of chasing down god-knows-what._

Suddenly, I was panicking. "It's here."

The fox smelled it too because Naruto growled and backed himself up against a wall, eyes searching the darkness in the alley. I couldn't see anything at all, save vague shadows, but something reeked of rotten eggs. What lunged at us, a moment later, didn't even pretend a semblance of humanity.


	4. Dead Man's Party

_Goin' to a party where no one's still alive... _

It moved on all fours, a hairless creature of rotting flesh and decaying bones. Fire-filled eyes watched us from within empty sockets, set back in a face that was little more than a fractured skull. It hung off the second story balcony, holding onto the ledge with skeletal arms. With one powerful kick it lunged toward us, propelled by gravity and its own momentum.

As soon as it got close I felt the blistering heat, as though its body was a moving furnace. Naruto dodged gracefully out of its warpath and kept his distance from the monster as it slammed into the wall behind him. This close, I could feel the call reaching down into my own bones and knew it had to be the source; it was strong enough here that even breathing seemed a wasted action. It growled and hissed as it rose, spitting flames, and turned around to glare at us with a ghostly gaze.

Slowly, I slipped off the fox's warm back and stood on shaky knees. Fear was enough to keep me from going far but still one hand reached forward, as though a moth led to a flame, a little bit more literally than I might otherwise prefer. Naruto growled and placed himself between me and the monster, his posture defensive.

_Stay out of this, kid._

The creature—I couldn't off hand tell if it was alive or not because it had no chest that might rise—lunged once again, completely ignoring the two-hundred pound shape shifter in its path and going straight for me. Where it touched the ground, it left burn-marks and the smell of charred flesh. Naruto wrestled the monster to the ground and I heard a pained howl as flames suddenly engulfed them both.

Memories of a long-ago fire filled my head as I took a few cautious steps. Watchers have no powers against the monsters that lurk in the night, I should know that; my mother drilled that much into me. Yet, I couldn't resist the urge to do something. The flames would consume everything—I was at least sure of that much.

"Naruto?"

He didn't answer and I screamed, terrified of what might have happened. The fire that spread along the ground obscured everything as it rushed for me. One moment, the world was painted orange and the next, there was only blackness and silence.

Someone whispered, "Don't you dare die on me, kid."

***

I awoke in an unfamiliar bedroom with a white ceiling; my body ached from head to toe and I had a splitting headache, but nothing seemed broken or otherwise permanently damaged. The bed felt comforting and warm, so I snuggled into the blankets as memories of the previous night made themselves readily available. With a gasp, I sat up and turned to look at the man laying stretched out next to me, one blond-haired idiot with a bandaged chest and several burns along his arms. He opened an eye and sniffed casually at me.

"Yo."

"Where am I?"

He gestured with one hand. "My apartment."

I looked around at the place, in some progressing state of lazy disarray. It was slowly starting to slip toward chaos if the scattered clothes and half-drank cans of beer were any indication. Rolling my eyes, I touched my own forehead and discovered it also bandaged. It certainly explained the head ache.

"What the fuck happened last night?"

"We got lucky," said my companion with a grin. "Well, Neji showed up in time, but I almost had that thing! Seriously, it was something else. I've never come across something so careless before. I think I bit of its femur..."

I had seen Naruto's second-in-command only once and remember little about the man save that he has blind eyes. Mind you, I'm pretty sure he can see, although to this very day he hasn't given me a straight answer. His sister jokes about it sometimes, but the long and short of it is that he doesn't like me very much. Back then, it was less dislike and more outright hate.

"God, what was that thing?" I asked no one in particular, recalling the way it looked.

My companion shrugged and said, "It's not in any of our histories. I had Hinata check, and she came up blank."

"Damn."

Slipping out of bed, I looked about for my own shirt but suspected that I had much better odds of finding the lost city of Atlantis, or at least its ruins, than one measly piece of clothing. Lucky for me, it should have stood out because Naruto doesn't wear black. His color of choice is orange...

"Your clothes were burnt last night."

I looked over at my pale-haired companion and raised an eyebrow. "I didn't say anything."

"Aren't you looking for a shirt?"

"Yeah, but I didn't _say_ anything," I repeated.

He looked briefly puzzled. "I just heard you!" Then I saw his face twist into a worried frown. "You really didn't say anything?"

"Are you a moron?"

"Bastard!"

His bright eyes caught my own, trying to stare me down like he would with any other disobedient or obnoxious member of his own pack. Usually it worked just fine on me, but for the first time, I felt no need to look away. The urge to back off was missing, replaced instead by a sense of peaceful calm. For a change my gut thought I had a chance of winning against the alpha.

Growling, in perfectly human fashion, I tossed one of his own sweaters at him. "Ug!"

He looked like he had more to say when the door suddenly flew open, practically ripped off its hinged by the above-mentioned second-in-command. Even in broad daylight and with hair that reached to his waist, Neji looks imposing. He had a weird symbol on his forehead, some kind of curse, although it didn't stop him from walking in on me half-naked and Naruto still in bed.

Blushing in pure humiliation, I grabbed the nearest shirt and slipped it on, glad it at least smelled clean. I always have to remember that shape-shifters don't care as much about clothes as normal people because they spend half their lives as animals who don't wear a damn thing. Convenient excuse, if you ask me.

"I have the report you requested, sir," Neji said all the while glaring at me.

"Did you find anything?" asked the blonde, either completely ignorant of the tension in the room or choosing to ignore it.

"The creature we encountered may have been a summoned one." The dark-haired wolf-man pulled out an all-too-familiar book.

"Hey, what the fuck are you doing with grandpa's journal?"

Neji turned to look at me and grinned. "We ransacked your house, punk. What're you gonna about it?"

"Fuck you!"

"You wanna?"

"Shut up!" This from the alpha. Naruto sighed. "Can you two _not_ fight for a moment?"

I grumbled under my breath. "Yeah, OK."

"Neji, thank you for delivering this. I will speak with you more on this matter later." He looked at me.

"Let me take you home, Sasuke. It's been a long night."

"But..."

Neji left much as he had come with the bang of a door and cold breeze. Naruto sat up, holding the journal carefully in his hands, and took a deep breath. I walked over to the bed and sat down next to him, remembering my old man sitting at his desk by the light of a candle—yes, we had electricity, which he refused to use—and writing in that ancient book on his. _Keeping score against the darkness..._

"Your grandfather was a good man," said my companion quietly.

I caught the sadness in his eyes, the loss. _Yeah, Naruto, I miss him, too._

"Will you be all right today?"

I rolled my eyes. "Of course. Can you just fucking stop treating me like a damn china doll and explain what the hell you think is going on."

The fact that he barely even mentioned the presence of something not listed in the shape shifters' archives puzzled me. With the help of Watchers, they had perhaps the best record of the kind of creatures that roamed the land. For something not to appear in them was like discovering a hole in the universe in your own back yard.

"It's puzzling that I can hear your thoughts," Naruto said finally. "In a pack, it has certain significance that cannot apply to humans, and conversely, for a Watcher it has its own meaning. Until we know more about what happened last night, I'd like to stay away from speculation."

I knew enough about shifter lore to understand what he meant and it left me with a stomach full of butterflies. With were-animals, only mates hear each other's minds and even then, it doesn't always happen. _Puzzling indeed._

"Anything else I should know?"

"Well, about last night..."

I shrugged and shivered all at once. "I passed out."

"Something like that..." The blonde licked his lip. "I saw you fall and panicked. But that _thing_ had a vise for a grip so I couldn't get back to you fast enough. And then...you started glowing blue. By the time Neji showed up, it was gone. The glow scared it away."

"Huh?"

Naruto smiled briefly, a wry twist of his mouth that often made me smile as well. "I've never seen another Watcher do that."

"Well, I don't remember any of it."

Naruto looked sheepish. "Yeah..." He chuckled. "How's about I drive you home. A good day's rest won't hurt and it gives me some time to ask around. Obviously we saw last night isn't your garden variety nasty, so maybe it's popped on other people's radar." He growled as his cell phone went off. "And call your brother before he reached out through a phone and strangles me."

"I thought you didn't like him."

"I don't, but I like you...as a friend...and your brother's a part of your life."

I gave him a sheepish grin. "Fine."

"I'll give Itachi that much. He's persistent. Even death didn't stop him from going on with his experiments, so what's life in comparison..."

"Come on," Naruto said finally and drove me back to grandfather's house.


	5. Never Scared

_Never scared, never worried that the summer would end _

I trudged upstairs and collapsed unceremoniously onto my own bed, too tired and grumpy about being nearly burned to a crisp to worry about the less painful details. Much like Naruto, I must've looked like a freshly-bandaged mummy but I hadn't bothered to look in a mirror and verify this guess. I was still laying there, face pressed against the sheets, when the door bell rang.

Not too many people know I even still live here and of them, only two or three would ever bother stopping by. Growling because I was likely not going to get any more sleep, I slid off the bed and walked—stumbled, really—back to the front door. I opened it, hoping it was some poor, lost soul who could be pointed in the right direction and shooed away.

One does now shoo Sakura anywhere unless one wants a couple of extra bruises. Green eyes regarded me with disdain as the sixteen-year-old girl shoved a stack of letters into my chest and I grabbed them before they could do any more damage. Her gaze wondered over to the bandage around my head however briefly before she grabbed my arm and dragged me forcefully back into my own kitchen.

"You're the bane of my existence," I informed her as she stuffed me into a chair.

"What happened?" she demanded as she rummaged through the cabinets in the bathroom across the hall.

"Um..."

She returned with a first-aid kit and began undoing someone's hard work as she pulled the bandages out of my now-tangled hair. "You look like you've been run over by a steam roller."

"Um..."

"I tried calling you at least three time yesterday evening, but no one picked up."

The pink-haired harpy—and I mean that in the best possible way—tore open a packet of gauze, dipped it in something nasty smelling and pressed it against the side of my forehead. Instantly it stung like hell. It took a lot of will power not to push her away, but with Sakura that couldn't possibly end well.

"Don't tell me you forgot about the play?" she demanded afterward. "It's the last one this school year."

I couldn't even remember agreeing to participate or attending rehearsal, but that might not mean much. The green-eyed teen had signed me up against my will before, usually for events I would've otherwise avoided like the plague itself.

"Uh..."

"Well, it's tonight and you're coming."

Calmly, she pulled off Naruto's shirt, sniffed it once, and tossed it into a corner before attacking the bandages around my neck and right shoulder. I didn't even remember examining them but since my whole body was one giant bruise, no specific place stood out as worse than any other. I put my arms up and let her be.

"What time?"

"The play's at seven and lucky for you, you only have to sit back and watch." She traced her fingers along my collarbone, sending shivers up my spine. "You got a tattoo?"

"Not that I can recall."

She brought over a portable mirror from the bathroom—one of Mom's favorites—and showed me the strange mark on my shoulder. It was a small circle etched out in different characters with three dots in the center. Sakura was human so it looked like plain old ink, but I suspected otherwise. It was someone's mark—whose remained to be seen.

Sakura seemed content pointing it out and went on with the torture without giving the "tattoo" another glance. Relieved that she wasn't going to prod, I sat back and stared blankly at the kitchen wall, covered by yellow wallpaper and adorned with flowers that I'd drawn there as a kid.

"Are you in the play?"

She nodded casually. "Yep. I'm the damsel in distress. Does it make any difference that I can practically bench press the _gentleman_ trying to save me?"

"Probably not."

She finished with the second bandage and pulled up a chair. "That's what I kind of figured." She sat back and began sorting through the first-aid box. "How've you been recently?"

"All right?" I raised an eyebrow at her. "It's been a very quiet three months."

"Healing takes time, Sasuke," she said softly and I suspect she was interpreting my newly acquired hurts as recklessness and emotional torment.

Briefly I considered reassuring her that it had instead been some manifestation of a Judeo-Christian demon as envisioned by evangelical bible-thumpers but decided against it. Knowing Sakura, she'd think I was drunk or stoned to boot—no one believed me when I spoke the truth because it usually sounded worse than any lies I could think of.

"I'm doing fine," I said, trying to sound reassuring. "Look, I swear I'll be at the play tonight. I presume it's at the school."

"Uh huh," she said, giggling. "Also, I think you might be late for you job interview."

"I have an interview?"

This came as a complete surprise considering I hadn't applied for a job since quitting my part-time job in April. Her green eyes glared daggers in my general direction as she pulled one envelope out of the pile I was still holding, and handed it again to me. I set the rest down and actually opened this one. It had no return address and the flowing handwriting didn't look familiar.

"Maybe if you checked your mail more often," Sakura suggested sarcastically.

I looked at the single typed-up sheet of paper inside and frowned. The company name didn't look familiar and the signature at the bottom reminded me of some half-finished scribble. The letter instructed that I had an interview at eight this morning at a firm in LA.

"Oh well."

"Aren't you going to call them and apologize?"

I stood up, wincing as stiff muscles refused to move, and walked over to the fridge. "Yeah..."

She frowned but made no more efforts to pound me into the ground. "Well, I have to get going. Last rehearsal's in an hour."

"See you this evening," I said to her retreating back before pouring myself a glass of juice.

***

After putting on clean clothes, I headed into the basement with a slowly growing sense of dread. All of my grandfather's notes and journals stood neatly on the shelves along the back wall and the rest of the room was taken up by his magical apparatuses, devices I couldn't even begin to name, much less use. Carefully, I made my way past them and to a card catalog of Gran's friends; the old man had been nothing if not meticulous in his record keeping.

Flipping through the cards yielded no specific connections—off hand, none of the men and women that Grandpa knew were associated with the current problem. _Either that or your call just doesn't recognize them._ Same problem either way.

Less than happy with this answer, I picked up one of his later journals and began reading through it. Unlike me and Naruto who had never come across summoned beasts, he'd been well versed in the theories behind them. I sat down in Gran's favorite chair, an old rocker, and found more about such abominations than I ever wanted to know.


	6. The Rose

_It's the heart afraid of breaking..._

Lunch?

It was a question my befuddled stomach had been asking since I awoke that morning and I indulged it by tossing several waffles into a toaster. If the ancient device didn't explode and the smoke didn't kill me, whatever came out would suffice. I was standing outside and waiting for the damn thing to rattle straight off the counter when a Ferrari drove up and parked indignantly on top of the lawn, or what was left of the lawn by then.

Neji emerged from within, dressed more like a martial artist than an LA resident. He tossed a cell phone at me with a look of pure disdain before turning into a wolf and trotting past me along the side of the house. His clothes still lay casually on the ground by his car's open driver door. I stood there for a good minute, just staring, not even aware that said phone hit my arm pretty hard before clattering to the floor.

"Uh..." I bent down and picked up the phone. "Fuck it, Neji. An explanation would be nice."

If the wolf heard, wherever it was, it ignore me completely. Something inside the car was beeping so I walked over, pulled the keys out of the ignition, and then closed the door. Thinking just a tad longer about it, I picked up the discarded clothes and tossed them back into the car. _Just in case..._

No sound reasoning explained the were-wolf's strange behavior so I opened up the cell phone, after a quick look to make sure it hadn't broken during its brief flight, and dialed Naruto's number. If anyone could shed some light onto a pack member's strange behavior, it would be the alpha. Though were creatures aren't all wolves, they tend to organize that way, at least those I know of in LA.

"Hello?" asked a rather groggy voice, followed by a moment of silence. "Neji?"

"Not exactly..."

"Sasuke?" Now the blonde really sounded surprised. "What're you doing with my Second's phone?"

"The moron tossed it at me, not too unlike pitching in baseball, before turning furry and running off."

I heard an exaggerated sigh followed by a growl. "Sorry about that, kid. I asked him to keep any eye on you. Not exactly what I had in mind, but I can kind of guess where he was going with it."

"You _what_?"

"Look, I thought it was a good idea at the time..." I could almost _hear_ him shrugging. "Neji was supposed to be a little more...discreet..."

That made me angry, the mere thought that Naruto was trying to look out for my welfare when I really didn't want him to. At least I thought I didn't. I couldn't remember ever feeling quite so passionately upset about what seemed to be an honest mistake.

"Bastard! I'm not some piece of pottery."

To my utter surprise, Naruto said softly, "Forgive me?"

It took me aback because I couldn't honestly remember when he'd last said those words. Usually I just backed down and let it go.

"Sure..." I paused a moment. "I'm going to play this evening at my old high school. Tell your guard to keep his distance."

"Will do," I heard him say as I hung up the phone and headed back inside.

***

Sakura clung to my shoulder with the kind of vise-like grip that would make any man fear for the sanctity of his genitals. I could barely stop myself from thinking about her threat—it was the first thing she'd said when I entered the mostly empty auditorium. _Leave early and I'll do the same thing to much more sensitive parts of you._

"And this is Sasuke," she was saying to one her friends. "We used to have art class together."

"Oh wow."

The speaker batted her eyes at me and it took will power to keep smiling and not make any rude comments. _Think of your own welfare,_ I thought sheepishly as Sakura moved on, dragging me along like a stuffed rag doll. I looked about the large open hall, with its dimly lit seating and the brightness of the stage. It was still more than half an hour until the show, and the place was half-empty.

"Do you remember Choji?" inquired the dangerous, pink-haired one as she pointed to a pudgy kid about my own age.

He stood about my own height and wore a costume of some sort, probably participating in the torture they like to call the play. His hair stood ram-rod straight, pointed in opposite directions and that day face paint added to whatever affect they were going for. Since I wasn't entirely sure what the play was about, or even its name, it was kind of hard to guess.

"I don't..."

"He was in your advanced algebra class."

I had skipped all but two sessions, showing up once for a test and the second time to turn in my text book. "Ah."

"Anyway, are you free this evening?"

"Yeah, why?"

"The rest of us are going to grab some dinner in LA after the play's over, and I was thinking you could come with us." Her glare suggested that 'no thanks' wasn't a valid option.

"Sure."

"Good." She led me to a seat at the front of the auditorium. "I gotta go but we should be starting real soon."

I like the back of a classroom for a reason, and it was actually the pink one who'd convinced me sit up front in art class. Mind you, 'front' inside that particular room had little meaning, but that was her way and there was no escaping it. So, I sat down and slouched in the chair. Not a minute later, Neji was sitting two seat to my right, glaring at me.

Escape was impossible.

***

I didn't remember falling asleep but I must've because one moment I was dozing off and dreaming of moon-jumping sheep, and the next there was a scream. Startled, I sat up and looked around, momentarily panicked when I couldn't remember where the hell I was. My eyes riveted to the stage as the only real source of light and instantly discovered the reason for the screaming.

Sakura was being attacked by something, the whole auditorium smelled of sulfur, and her knight in shining armor—not Choji—lay on the ground not ten feet from me. Neji was watching this with a look of perfect calm, which meant he'd been told to watch after me and considered the flame-throwing thing up there not his problem.

_God, if only I could care so little._

It had to the monster from the previous night because it was again rotting and setting everything it touched on fire—no surprise there if you think about what most sets are made of. Anger tore at me as well as the sudden need to go up onto the stage. _Moth to a flame and no sane friend for company._

Getting up, I jumped onto the stage and only then did Neji sit up and pay attention. Sakura was trying to duck behind a makeshift boat—Viking?--and the thing was rampaging across the set. Screams echoed from the sides of the stage, and the crowd... They were human, unlike apparently the pink-haired harpy, because they saw nothing out of the ordinary.

"Hey you!" I waved my arms up in the air.

The monster turned to look at me and its eyes glowed and sparked in the darkness it was calling forth. _Aw shit_ I thought as I turned and ran toward the right, through a long sheet of paper that was supposed to have represented water, and off the stage. The decaying skeleton followed.

A sudden growl interrupted my mad dash and as I turned around, it was Naruto lunging at the creature, claws extended. Watching him was like watching ballet in motion, except with sharp knives thrown into the mix. I'll be the first to say that I never want to be on the receiving end of those particular claws—or any, for that matter.

_Get back!_

I heard him loud and clear. Moving a few steps back, I recalled Gran's old book and began forming symbols with my hands. The old man had taught me how to make them when I was a kid, but until I read his journal that afternoon, they meant nothing to me. Now, lighting formed in my right hand, a glowing and sparkling ball that almost tickled my palm.

Feeling it grow, I rushed forward at the monster, who was now showing its back to me, hand outstretched. The heat felt first uncomfortable and then unbearable as my fingers touched its flesh and the lightning went in. The thing let one long, angry howl before turning on its heels to glare at me.

"I'll not forget," it rasped, spitting flames, before making a mad dash out of the auditorium.

All the adrenaline suddenly rushed out of my head and for a moment, the world twirled. By the time it finally came to a stand still, Naruto was nowhere to be seen, and Neji sat calmly back in his seat, wearing sunglasses. For some reason, I noticed the sunglasses almost before the man behind them.

"Sakura?" I asked shakily as I headed back to the stage.

She ran up to me and wrapped her hands around my waist. "Oh my god, are you OK? That thing..."

"Uh..."

She looked at my shirt briefly. "It's all burned!"

"Long story," I mumbled.

"Well, shit..."

"Was it a good play, at least?"

She laughed. "Guess I was a damsel in distress after all."

I looked around the hall once more before following her toward the dressing rooms. _Naruto?_

_Don't worry, kit. I'll see you later._

_Soon, please._ I didn't want to be alone and I didn't want to be with Sakura, not when fear still coursed through my veins. _I'd rather you were here._

_Soon_, he promised inside my own head and was gone.

***

Author's Note: A commenter asked if this was a Sasuke X Naruto story and the answer is an eventual "yes" with complications.


	7. Heaven is a Place on Earth

_Heaven is a place on earth..._

Someone pulled the fire alarm as the largest piece of the stage burst into flames, and Neji had escaped in the ensuing confusion, not that I blamed the guy. A sudden mass of humanity all rushing for the door was enough to unnerve anyone, me included. Sakura had been whisked away by the art teacher along with the rest of the cast, and left without a ride, I'd headed home on foot.

Still shirtless and now shivering in the cold, I walked down a country road a little too slowly to make much progress. The only I seemed to want to be was with Naruto—the need to verify he was fine overrode common sense—and I didn't exactly have a way of getting a hold of him. Which left me with a long walk and plenty of time to think.

Two hours later, I was still trudging along when my brother's fancy car pulled up alongside me. Itachi stuck his head out the window, revealing perfectly straight black hair and paper-white skin, and then came to a complete halt. Feeling surprisingly dirty at being seen half-naked, I paused as well.

"Get in." His voice was soft but cold as ice and left no room for argument.

I raised an eyebrow at the man, took a deep breath, and asked carefully, "Why?"

"If you know what's good for you, Sasuke, you're going to do as you're told."

I could practically hear the glamour in his voice and knew that he was trying hard to make the command stick. I suspected that, under normal circumstances, I had been charmed by him before and he was simply pulling an old trick out of his hat. Problem was, the last few days had been anything but ordinary and I felt no apparent need to comply.

"It's past midnight. What could you _possibly_ want?"

He sighed and rolled his eyes. "The oracle wants to see you."

"Huh?"

"She specifically requested you, and in my world, that's either an honor or a death sentence, _but _also entirely unavoidable. So get in before I have to wrestle you and toss you into the trunk."

I opened the passenger-side door and slipped inside. "Well if you put it that way..."

"You look different today, little brother," said Itachi calmly but didn't explain and didn't bring it up again.

He drove much the same as the were-creatures, like a drunken maniac, weaving in and out of traffic at break-neck speeds. I leaned back in the black, leather seat—maybe love of black was a hereditary thing—and tried not to think of what might happen if we were to crash. Itachi didn't have so much as a parking ticket, which was at least remotely reassuring.

"So who is this oracle person anyway?" I asked shakily as the car climbed up a steep hill and LA came into view.

"She is the leader of the vampire clans here in Los Angeles. As for _what_ she is, the debate has raged on for centuries with no solid answers."

"She's not a vampire?"

My brother shook his head. "It's complicated."

"Yeah," I mumbled and stared out the window again. "It usually is."

***

Night's Song is a club that caters to very specific and unique tastes; enough magic has seeped into the walls that nowadays humans simply keep their distance, and I think the patrons prefer it that way. Built back when the city was first founded, it stands tucked away between several sky scrapers. The rest of the neighborhood has been renovated several times, but it remains.

Itachi got us there in under an hour and parked casually in the back lot behind the bar. He led the way past a bouncer who didn't give a second look and winked suggestively at him and into the bowls of a small, two story building that looked surprisingly unremarkable. I could practically feel power sliding along my skin as we walked through the crowded room and toward the bar situated on the far wall.

The music blared a little too loud for comfort and the shadows flickered beneath candle light. The air smelled of acrid smoke and copper. Most of the current customers seemed to be vampires, although a few sported shifter pack tattoos and a couple of the younger women were human, gifted but human nonetheless.

"I brought him," Itachi said to the bartender who gestured silently for us to go through a door to my left.

"She's waiting."

My brother put a hand on my shoulder and steered me through said door, down a hallway, and into a small office of sorts. It was entirely undecorated save a single painting of a waterfall that hung just to the left of the door. A single, circular wooden table stood in the middle of the room, with two chairs standing opposite each other.

Itachi left me there and left, closing the door behind him. I looked around and was about to say something when the oracle appeared in the chair across from me as if she'd been sitting there all along. She looked young with pale hair and a little, purple diamond on her forehead but her eyes belied her own age.

"Have a seat," she said casually and leaned back in her own chair.

"Um..." I sat down.

"Relax, Sasuke. This isn't a test."

Tired, I barely stifled a yawn. "Wasn't worried..."

"Let me see your hand." She reached and placed her own hand on the table, palm up.

"What for?"

"Touch often makes it easier to see the future."

I obeyed, feeling butterflies linger in the pit of my own stomach as she reached and ran a finger across the lines on my palm. I personally don't believe that anyone can see the future because it's not written until we play our parts in it, but I got the impression that I shouldn't be airing these thoughts in front of the oracle.

"Your road is a long one," said the woman finally, "and you'll have a choice yet to make."

"Watchers don't choose..."

She smiled at me as though a mother at a misguided child. "Perhaps not, but soon enough you will have to decide between the supernatural and a world free of such beings."

"Why?"

"I can sometimes glimpse what may yet come," she explained, "and this event has been writ in prophesy. However, knowing what happens does not shed light on the whys."

"And what should I choose?"

The woman shrugged. "That's your decision to make."

"Thank you," I said, trying to at least sound grateful when I felt anything but.

She rose and walked over to the door. "When you see your brother again tonight, tell him that he's a good kid."

I nodded stiffly and walked out the door and back the way I'd come, no less confused now than before the meeting. I barely managed to walk ten steps before hearing Naruto's familiar voice echoing down the hall. My eyes caught sight of the two of them standing in the middle of the bar, surrounded by a throng of curious onlookers as they glared daggers at each other

"You did WHAT?" Naruto was screaming at my brother. "Are you out of your mind?"

Itachi shrugged. "She requested it."

"_She_ is the oldest creature in this town and more than capable of stealing Sasuke's soul. You must be a dumbass to leave him unprotected. Or do you just hate your little brother?"

"Shut the fuck up!" growled the raven-haired man. "You know nothing about me or about Sasuke!"

"I know damn well that he's human!"

My brother smirked. "Are you so sure about that?"

"Asshole! One of these days you're going to find out just how precious Sasuke really is, but by then, it's gonna be way too late."

Itachi lunged at the blonde and the two wrestled each other to the ground while those around them laughed and cheered. Mouth agape, I rushed at the two, pushing past several people who paid absolutely no attention to me, and grabbed Itachi's shoulders, surprised that he felt cold even through a dress shirt.

"Stop it!" I glared at Naruto. "Both of you!"

The blue-eyed were-fox looked instantly relieved as he reached out and hugged me. "Thank god you're all right." Pulled away from my brother I barely even bothered to struggle when Naruto put an arm around me.

"Of course, he's all right," Itachi grumbled. "I told you Tsunade didn't summon him to be her midnight snack."

"I honestly don't _care_ why she summoned him, blood sucker. He belongs to me."

That made my cheeks turn some bright shade of red. "I don't _belong_ to anyone. What the fuck is wrong with you two?"

"Tsunade feeds on human souls," Naruto said in pure disgust. "It's how she stays so young. It's also how she predicts the future."

Suddenly, I was cold to the bone. "So, someone died tonight?"

"Someone always dies, little brother. Some of them just go more peacefully than others."

I looked up at the blond-haired man and steeled my resolve. "I wanna go home."

Naruto laughed. "Your wish is my command."


	8. Reckless Abandonment

Because I felt anxious and Naruto was still pissed off at my brother, we left the Night Song bar in a hurry. Even though he didn't say it, I got a glimpse of the blond man's anger when he got into his Jeep and slammed his door nearly hard enough to break it. His shoulders looked tense underneath an already skin-tight shirt and he was glaring at the road as we pulled away from the curb.

"Hungry, kid?" he asked casually once we'd driven a few miles out.

I shook my head but he pulled over an all-night drive-through anyway and ordered coffee. I slouched back in the passenger seat, watching him through half-closed eyes, and saw not just my grandfather's friend, but a man. In the dim light of the nearby street lamps, he looked stunning and dangerous. An unexpected blush crept up my cheeks.

"Sorry I wasn't there with you tonight," he said after passing me a steaming cup.

I rolled my eyes and managed a half-hearted smirk. "Don't worry about it. No way you could've known that Itachi was going to practically kidnap me."

"Well, for starters, Neji shouldn't have left your side," said the blonde as he drove to the nearest parking lot and shut off the car. I was about to protest when he went on, "However, I was aware that the old hag was planning something. I just didn't know it involved you."

"You know Tsunade?" I asked after taking a sip of the syrupy, sweet liquid.

"I know _of_ her, but so do most shifters in the country, and of course, she presides over the vampires." He chuckled. "Doesn't make her any less a bitch, though."

"How old is she, anyway?"

The blonde shrugged and ran a hand through his short, messy curls, visibly trying to relax. "She claims she was born before Christ, but calendars weren't as...accurate...back then."

"Didn't look a day over thirty," I tried to joke, but it seemed no joking matter to the were-fox.

"She stays so young by draining the souls of living things. I've heard rumors that she prefers Watchers, that they have the most potent life energy, but that's neither here nor there."

The thought and the aftertaste of the coffee tasted bitter in my mouth. Vampires disgust me but at least they don't have to kill to survive—with Tsunade, death of the victim was guaranteed. Naruto turned and stared at me with sadness-filled, blue eyes. For once, it wasn't a battle or a contest; he'd been genuinely worried.

"She seemed nice enough to me." I made every effort to sound reassuring. "Powerful for sure, but she was really trying to tone it down."

"Th hag still cultivates plans she set in motion back when Inquisitors roamed Europe in the name of the Holy Church. If she has plans for you, they are likely beyond our comprehension."

"Ah..." I nodded, unsurprised by this revelation. Something about living practically forever tends to have that affect. "Can she really see the future?"

"Only two people know the answer to that question," said my companion cryptically. "One's a hermit and pervert to boot and the other's a sorcerer with a less-than-stellar reputation."

"Thanks, Naruto, for coming tonight."

He grinned. "Well, someone had to defend your honor."

"My _honor_ does not need defending!"

He didn't say anything else aloud but I heard clear as day, _it most certainly does._ Gulping down the last of my drink, I put the cup neatly into the cup holder between the seats and frowned. It didn't make any more sense now than the previous morning; I shouldn't be able to hear Naruto's thoughts and yet they came through loud and clear.

"What does it mean for two shape shifters to be able to read each other's minds?" I asked as he turned the key in the ignition and the car roared into life.

Now it was his turn to blush, much less visible underneath his tan but still apparent. "Uh... can I plead the fifth amendment?"

"No."

"Well, um... Usually it means they are mates." He turned out of the lot and headed down a four lane street whose name I didn't know. "Like Kiba and Hinata."

"Oh."

Well that explained his reluctance to talk about it. Naruto did about as well around intimacy as I—namely poorly. It didn't help that he'd been around for decades and would continue to live well after my own death; kind of makes loneliness that much worse if you know it's going to last for a very long time.

"Look, I'm sure there's a logical explanation for all of this," offered the blond helpfully. "We just have to find it."

"If I'm your mate, you're screwed."

He laughed harshly and merged onto a highway. "I would thank the divine if I honestly believed that was the worst of our worries."

"So what is the worst?"

Before he could answer, the street lamps around us faded out one by one, leaving behind only darkness. Suddenly, even breathing took effort and my limbs felt heavy and sluggish. Naruto slammed on the break and we came to a halt on the deserted road with only the starry night for company.

The shape shifter got out of the car even while I fumbled with the door handle. Walking around the front of the vehicle, he opened it for me. I slipped out and looked around, feeling the stirrings of a call, the sense of purpose.

"Something's here."

"Yeah," growled my companion, "and if it doesn't show itself, I'm going to chase it down with claws and teeth." He rolled his eyes. "Hiding in the dark doesn't make you any less a pervert, old man."

Someone laughed. "Don't call me that."

"Damn hermit knows how to make an entrance."

A man stepped out of the night, wearing some kind of furry head piece and carrying a backpack. He wore Japanese-style, wooden flip-flops and robe; nothing modern enough for me to recognize.

"Aww, come on, we've done plenty of fun stuff together." He eyed me. "And who's this lovely?"

"Sasuke, and keep your paws off him, pervert!"

"You're just too damn touchy about some things," said the obviously drunken man in front of us. "Too damn—" Hiccup.

"Just maybe I don't want to turn into an old drunk who writes blush-inducing romance novels and peeks into spas."

"Nah! Doesn't happen like that." The white-haired stranger took a drink out of the bottle he was holding. "So, how's Tsunade fairing?"

"How should I know?"

"She called me—" He took a step, stumbled, then righted himself, "—on your behalf."

"Why would the granny do that?"

"Beats me, little boy, but I thought I'd ask since I was passing through."

"Well, she didn't tell me a damn thing so why don't you go ask her yourself? Maybe she can sober you out for a while."

"You're no fun," the stranger called out casually before he disappeared.

I glanced over at the blonde but he only shook his head and got back into the car. The darkness faded and the world returned to normal as we drove off. I looked up at the sky and with so much light pollution, there were no stars.

"Who was that?"

Naruto sighed. "Jiraiya."

"Uh..."

"Ask me again tomorrow, all right?"

I shrugged and closed my eyes. "Whatever..."

It was almost dawn and we were slowly driving into the sunrise. Naruto turned on the radio; god only knows what station it was set to but a familiar song played and I fell asleep to it.

_The world is spinning way too fast..._


	9. Human

_Are we human..._

I dozed as we drove home in the predawn darkness, too exhausted to think straight. Naruto had the radio going on some oldies station—he likes music from what he calls a "more innocent time"--but I was paying it almost no attention. I'd rolled down my window and was enjoying the cool breeze, a relief because my body felt hot and stuffy. The air smelled vaguely of the ocean, tinged with salt, and I could just barely make out of the sound of water slapping leisurely against the sand of some nearby shore.

"I love the ocean," said my light-haired companion into the comfortably silence. "It's so relaxing."

I opened one eye and looked around at the quickly passing scenery. Green, leafy trees lined either side of the three-lane highway, and beyond them, I could just barely make out rolling hills. Somewhere, a bird was chirping a little loudly and though I had no headache, it still made me wince. I looked over at Naruto and raised an eyebrow.

"What brought this on?"

"You were thinking about it," he pointed out reasonably, "and I can smell it from her as well. Kind of makes me want to go run in the water."

"We have to be at least a mile from the ocean."

He looked at me, eyes wide for a moment, and it seemed as though a light bulb went on over his head. He reached over, letting go of the steering wheel as though driving at almost a hundred miles an hour was like riding a bicycle. _Hey look, Ma, no hands!_ Instead, he touched my forehead with the back of his palm.

"You have a fever."

I blinked a few times. "I'm just tired."

"There's a world of difference between tired and an internal temperature of 105 degrees." Worry spread across his normally cheerful face.

I stuck my arm out the window. "I can't be _that_ hot."

"You are," he reassured me somberly. "Shape-shifters tend to run hotter, so to speak, so I should know."

I rolled my eyes at him even as we veered off the highway at what I recognized as a small country road and headed in the direction of my grandfather's farm. It was still at least forty minutes until sunrise and dark—street lamps came few and far between—but I could see well enough to read the passing road signs.

About half a mile away from home, I smelled the first hints of smoke and it grew thicker and heavier the closer we got to our destination. Aware of it and concerned—the shift in his shoulders gave it away—Naruto slowed the car practically down to a crawl and turned onto the dirt road that led directly up to the house.

He didn't need to go far before I saw the flaming monster, crouched lazily on the front porch of Gran's now burning, two-story home. Smoke rose from the broken windows and flames licked at the wooden door and frames. The paint—I was suddenly reminded that Grandpa and I had painted much of the house a few years back—was peeling off the wood. The grass all around looked black and charred.

Naruto stopped the car well away from the fire and got out in that kind of deliberate way that told me he was angry. His lips were pursed together in a line and the flames reflected in his eyes; I'd never seen the were-fox as pissed as he was right then. Fumbling with the door, I managed to get out of the car.

The monster looked between the two of us and focused, in the end, on me. It opened its mouth, perhaps to speak, but the were-fox gave it no such opportunity. Even as I stood there, horrified at the flames that consumed the old farm and with it much of my own life, Naruto sprang forward across the ruined ground and lunged at the creature. It growled and hissed and he seemed to answer with a howl of his own.

"Won't you leash your pet?" rasped the monster.

I blinked, not understanding. I felt the urge to say something, possibly even to the blonde, but nothing seemed to make it past my own brain.

"I have marked you, boy. You are my master's and thus, mine."

The call was firm and inescapable; perhaps if I wasn't already tired and running a fever, I would have gone without question. But while the tattoo glowed and pain spread down my back and arm, it did little else. Then, Naruto howled in sheer pain and snapped me out of whatever stupor had come before.

"I don't know who your master is, but I certainly don't belong to him."

My hands flew through the air, the motions both familiar and alien all at once, a bit like suddenly finding out you can play guitar after years of believing otherwise. Watchers can't normally do magic, hence the need for Guardians, yet i had no trouble bringing forth lightning. It danced and stretched across my hand, turning more into a stick of a light.

The monster laughed, a horrible sound that grated against my ears. "Silly boy."

Reaching out, I grabbed it like one might with a sword, ignoring the cuts it left on my palms, and rushed at the decaying being with its hollow eyes and gaunt figure. Naruto jumped back at the last possible moment and my lightning-sword slammed into the monster at full force. The world exploded into sparks.

The creature batted at me as though I were a fly and a flew backwards, hitting the front of Naruto's jeep. Pain flared up my spine and my head ached, a sharp angry hurt; blood dripped down my face and into one eye. Briefly I wished I'd said goodbye before the world dissolved into darkness.

***

"If he is your mate," said a voice filled with disdain, "he's way too fragile. How do you plan to mate with him exactly?"

"What I do in private is none of your business."

"As your second-in-command, I can't agree more. Dallying with humans is your problem. However, the other packs aren't stupid, nor blind. They'll look at him once and know."

"Yeah..."

"And then what? They'll challenge him and there's no way in hell he can win." The speaker sighed however briefly. "I might not care for your choice of partners, but I respect your desire for one. However, our clan is already tainted. Regardless of how you feel about the kid, it's going to be seen as that final straw and the other packs won't stand for it. They'll howl for his blood."

"Anything less gloomy on the schedule or do you plan to spend the whole briefing discussing pack politics."

"You're hopeless, Naruto. Tough as an ox but completely hopeless."

"You've called me worse, you know."

"Must be losing my touch."

"Look, the next meet isn't for a week and then not again for a year. We'll think of something before then."

"As long as I don't have to wear drag again..."

"But your hair! You made such a pretty girl."

"Naruto! Mention that again, I will challenge you for your position." He cleared his throat. "Plus, this year I'm going with Tenten."

Naruto chucked. "Don't worry about it. Did you find anything out about the mark?"

"It's a binding symbol of some sort, first created by a man named Orochimaru." A moment's silence. "You look pale, suspiciously so."

"It's nothing. Go on."

"That's about all we've got. The man's a sorcerer but he hasn't been seen or heard from since the dark ages."

"Thank you for trying, Neji. Why don't you go home and get some rest?"

"Yes, sir." A door nearby opened and closed.

Softly, Naruto whispered, "I'm sorry, Sasuke. Seems like I can't protect you from damn near anything."

***


	10. Time of Your Life

_But a lesson learned in time... _

I floated in a sea of white fluff, apparently shot full of enough drugs to sedate even a shape shifter and not conscious enough to wake up completely. Bits of conversation rolled on by, spoken softly by familiar, if hushed voices. Mostly I dreamed about my family and sometimes about the blonde-haired shape shifter, but these were dreams, far removed from the nightmares that normally haunted my sleeping hours.

Naruto hadn't left my side since god-knows-when, slipping away only briefly and rarely. I knew his passing because he was very warm and when he left, I felt cold and alone. His mind was a reassuring jumble of straightforward thoughts, devoid of malice or vengeful thoughts; he knew pain and anguish and sorrow but he felt no need to lash out at the world. That seemed to be a burden left on my shoulders.

At one point, it occurred to me that, as far as the human world was concerned, I was the last living member of my family. To them, Itachi was gone and buried along with the rest of my family and all that remained of once proud Uchiha house was a kid in a hospital bed, in a coma to boot. Worse still, save Itachi and my grandfather, the rest of my family had died by fire. _Wonder if anyone's keeping score._

Sakura came by as well, prompting the were-fox to leave, but she never stayed long. She told me once, when she thought I wasn't listening—because apparently even comatose people don't all share the same blank expression—that she volunteered at the hospital. She cried by far the most. I'd never much understood why she bothered to shed tears; it accomplished nothing and brought her no closer to her goals. Maybe I'm broken, too...

But even in this world of shapeless clouds and echo-filled voices, the call wouldn't let me rest for long. I knew it was time to wake up and there was no place to run from the single-minded purpose that is a Watcher's existence. Slowly, the emptiness inside my own head receded and my eyes opened once more.

Everything smelled of disinfectant; it assaulted my nose and, not for the first time, I sympathized with any shape shifter forced to visit a hospital. Turning my head, I looked over at the blonde, with his tousled hair and whisker shaped scars. He was the first thing I noticed and reaching out with an unsteady hand, I touched his face.

"Forgiven," I whispered, remembering something he'd said days earlier.

I've heard of falling in love at first sight; it's one of those romantic notions Sakura likes to ponder about. I fully expected never to join the ranks of the love-struck but watching him sleep made my heart ache. He was still sporting bandages from our nasty encounter with the demon and looked, even asleep, worried. The rest of the room, when I finally got around to noticing it, was austere and punctuated by beeping and blinking monitors that hung above my head.

Naruto opened one blue eye, then the other. Then, he proceeded to hug the stuffing out of me. Briefly I knew what teddy bears might feel like. When he finally let go again, I whimpered in newly-discovered pain and glared at him.

"Ow!"

"I was worried," he said by way of explanation. "You almost didn't make it..."

_I was nearly impaled on your Jeep. I'm actually more surprised that I'm still here._ "Told you I'm not that fragile."

This time it was his turn to do the staring. "Ug! You and Neji both. How can you think and say two absolutely different things?"

"You hear Neji's thoughts, too?"

Naruto shrugged and sat up, climbing off the hospital bed in order to pull up a chair. "He can send his thoughts to other people, when he wants to, if he's shared blood with them before." Sitting down, he paused. "How do you feel?"

Taking stock of my own injuries proved to be a Bad Idea. Thankfully not everything hurt, but my back was one giant mess of agony with the right arm a close second. Breathing too heavily wasn't a good idea, either, though I couldn't remember breaking any ribs.

"I'll survive."

"Great!" The blonde sounded suspiciously cheerful. "Um...I like you."

A blush crept up his face; I watched it sliding underneath his perpetual tan. He was also rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Having known Naruto for a while now, I was betting on some mixture of embarrassment and worry.

"OK."

"Aw, come on, don't be such a cold bastard," he almost whined, a petulant teenager in place of an adult. "I really do like you. You know, the human kind of love."

"Don't shape shifters just...you know?"

He sighed and stuck out his tongue at me. "Sometimes. But it isn't just that. We're not fucking rabbits." I rolled my eyes at him and he amended the statement. "Most of us aren't, anyway."

"Well, I like you, too, but is there any way this particular conversation can wait until after this mess is over?"

He shook his head. "So, as I was saying, I like you."

"Naruto..." I tried to sound upset but it came out more tired than angry.

"And that makes you my mate."

My befuddled brain was starting to catch up. "Great to know it's a one way street. What if I hate your guts?"

"Doesn't work like that."

He chuckled and I could tell he was trying to get under my skin. That's Naruto for you. Pushing my buttons seemed to be his favorite hobby recently, somewhere between saving my ass and getting himself set on fire.

"In whose world, exactly?"

"There's a pack meet tomorrow night," he blurted out, "and as my mate, you have to come."

"Let me guess: if I ask anything else—like how the fuck other packs are going to know I even exist—the answer is inevitably going to be 'it's complicated'."

"Actually, to a shape shifter, my status in that particular area is blindingly obvious. Humans' limited senses prevent them from smelling such details, but for me—and every other shifter around—it's as easy as walking." He looked up at me after staring at the floor. "I also strongly suspect that as the drugs we gave you wear off, you'll begin noticing it as well. Trust me when I say you're still out of it."

"But..."

He held up his hand. "As my mate, you share both my strengths and weaknesses. As your Guardian, I share your mind. You and I... Let's just say you'll want to speak with the hag again."

"Why?"

"Can I save her life story for another day? Right now, you need food—trust me on this, too—and then a hot bath. And then..."

I glared at him. "Go on."

"Then we teach you to fight against a shape shifter and win because, come the Gathering, you're gonna have to win."

"You seriously think any of the other packs are going to want to challenge a human? Isn't that beneath them?"

He stood up and stretched; I watched him the way one watches a tiger, with a wary gaze. Looking back at me, he nodded. "Our pack is already considered inferior because we're such a mixed group of animals, but we're strong enough to hold our own. The other packs will want some of that strength, and killing my mate is one way of getting what they want." He grinned. "But don't worry! With a little work, you can win for sure!"

I sat up, ignoring the pain, and pulled several IVs out of my arm. "Well, best get started."

The butterflies in my stomach were a potent reminder that, even if I did like the blonde, I was still walking almost calmly to my own execution.

***

Author's Note: The next chapter should be more action-packed. I know this one dragged. Sorry.


	11. Ready for Love

_Ready for love..._

Naruto gaped as I pulled off the heart monitor attached to my hand and set the whole room a-beeping but he kept his mouth wisely shut. A nurse rushed in—not Sakura, thank my healing bones—and looked between the two of us with a horrified expression on her face. She even managed a few weak protests to the general tune of "you were still in a coma not an hour ago" but they didn't last long. I slipped out of bed, thankfully dressed in someone's clothes—they didn't look like anything I'd ever owned—and walked past her with the blond-haired man in tow.

"You probably shouldn't be up," reasoned my companion.

I couldn't exactly disagree with him without knowing the extent of previous injuries but nothing seemed broken now and I was only bruised and burned. Not wanting a wheelchair, I stalked down the hall, ignoring the pain and after giving me a sidelong glance, Naruto walked beside me, intimidating anyone who tried to stop us. With him it wasn't exactly a lot of work because the blonde certainly looked the part.

"My car's in the parking lot," he suggested as we exited the hospital, "unless you want to walk all the way back to my place."

"Car's fine."

He looked at me sheepishly. "It's actually Hinata's. You totaled my Jeep."

Blink. Blink. "I what?"

"You broke your spine and left a nice, Sasuke-shaped dent in the front of my car." Then, he grinned like the Cheshire cat. "Thankfully you have me for a mate, and we heal pretty quick."

"Sorry about that." I blushed and stared at the concrete beneath my feet, entirely glad to be out of that stuffy hospital room. "I know you really liked that car."

He gestured to a white Toyota something-or-another and opened the passenger-side door. "Don't even say that. I'd rather have you in one piece than the Jeep."

After I got in, wincing at the prospect of bending however little and then again at actually doing it, he followed suit and we managed to drive all the way out of the crowded parking lot before my stomach growled. My companion chuckled almost gleefully—kid in a damn candy store—as I suddenly felt hungry enough to eat a horse. One moment nothing sounded appetizing and the next, I didn't really care what I ate so long as it was very soon. I looked over at Naruto and he was tasty, too, just not in the same way as lunch; he also smelled yummy, a sensation I can only describe as fucking confusing.

"Um..."

"I'll pull over at the nearest fast food place," said the blonde reassuringly and tousled my hair, earning himself a death glare in the process. "You'll need calories. Not too many at first, but more than you normally eat." When my expression turned curious, he went on. "We heal quick, sure, but we need a lot of energy to keep running."

"How much do you normally eat?" I asked as he pulled over at a drive-through.

He ordered a lot of food, enough to feed at least three people and paid without answering my question. It was only once we were waiting for the food to arrive that he said, "You don't wanna know."

"Sure I do. Since you've apparently conferred your ravenous appetite onto me and all."

"I eat maybe as much as three normal humans, but most of it burns off as soon as I change shape." He shrugged. "Also, shifters hibernate until food becomes available." He seemed to think because I could practically see gears turning in his head.* "But this may all not apply to you. You were low on energy, too, but you didn't just curl up and doze off until we drugged the living daylights out of you."

"Dragged me?" I paused as a hand reached in through Naruto's open window and dropped three bags of food into his lap. "Why?"

"You were screaming..." He handed me a greasy big mac. "Eat."

"Don't normally like fast food," I mumbled but took a bite anyway. I expected my stomach to rebel against the food but it seemed content enough to keep it down.

"Think of it as calories," said the blonde casually. "It's not like you have to worry about your cholesterol anymore."

It brought me back to my previous line of questions. "Why was I screaming?" And conveniently don't remember doing so.

"You were in pain. Trust me when I say that a spine kitting back together is one experience I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Even more to the point, normal painkillers go through your system like candy." He managed a smirk.

"And this aforementioned bath?"

"Well, more like a giant pool filled with hot water, but the idea's the same..."

I glared at him but accepted a chicken sandwich. "Can you be any more obtuse?"

"You'll like it," he said reassuringly. "Since we run hotter, we like warmth a lot more. There's a reason I love living in Cali."

I shrugged. "Maybe you're just weird. Ever thought of that?"

"Aww, come on..."

He was, to my chagrin, right about the bath, too. Damn fox and his pack. A poxy on you all.

***

As soon as I slipped into the warm water, I understood exactly why Naruto had invested some obscene sum of money into converting the basement of his apartment building into a pool. The hot water felt soothing against my cold skin and for the first time since leaving the comfort of the blonde's arms back at the hospital, I was warm again.

The sides of the pool were smooth stone and after finding a low stair, I sat down and leaned back against the edge of the pool, staring blankly at the white ceiling. I heard the blonde enter long before I saw him, perfectly aware of his soft footsteps and shallow breathing. He was trying to be stealthy about it and failing rather poorly. I think I was still grinning dementedly at this new found skill when I turned to watch his approach.

"How's the water?" he asked.

"Well, this is the closest I'm ever getting to heaven."

He chuckled and took his clothes with a kind of casual disdain, prompting a blush on my part and reminding me yet again that shape shifters didn't have the same moral dilemmas as human beings. It seemed that only my kind had any taboos against naked bodies. With a grin, the blonde dived into the pool, splashing hot water everywhere, and then surfaced, still smiling.

"See, told you it'd feel great." He nodded to himself. "Now if only I could convince Neji to hold weekly meetings here, we'd never get a damn thing done."

I stifled a giggle at the thought. "I think that's exactly the point."

Ignoring my point, Naruto stepped out of the water and grabbed himself a towel. I watched him not so much with envy as mild excitement. It was a stupid feeling, completely out of place with somber mood of the upcoming Gathering but I couldn't help it. The blonde was nothing if not handsome, and naked, he was especially interesting.

"You're not all that bad looking."

He laughed at me. "That would be your hormones talking. Might want to remember that you can smell lust the way most people smell smoke."

"It was supposed to be a complement, you moron."

The smile on his face slowly faded into a more solemn expression. "Sorry. No one's said it quite like that."

"I'm honestly surprised. The way you look, I'd wager no girl's ever denied your advances."

"I haven't been with anyone." Now the shifter was outright blushing. My eyes must've widened at this revelation because Naruto grinned. "Is it really that hard to believe?"

I shrugged. "I thought you guys went at it pretty frequently."

"We still mate for life," he pointed out. "It's just not as sickeningly romantic. I mean, it could be. Want me to buy you roses or something?"

"Hell no!" I stood up, walked out the water, and punched him.

For a brief moment, we stood only inches apart, and my own body refused to think happy thoughts. I looked up at Naruto, opening my mind because I wanted badly to know what he was thinking, but before I could catch a glimpse of his feelings, we were interrupted by Neji's haphazard entrance. He tumbled unceremoniously down the steps, pushed by something or someone, and landed at the bottom with a kind pissed look on his face.

I grabbed for the nearest towel and practically hid behind it while the blonde took it all in stride. As soon as he was standing upright again, the Second said through clenched teeth, "The Altar is ready."

Behind him, a woman with short, black hair descended the steps but she kept her distance. _Tenten,_ Naruto thought helpfully as Neji swept the stranger off her feet and climbed back up the steps. _His latest...uh...friend._

When he was gone, the blonde smiled and put on a clean pair of black shorts and one of those sickeningly-orange shirts. I presumed he had a closet filled them with them just hiding somewhere. Then the blond-haired shape shifter turned to look at me.

"As my mate, you have every right to join our pack. If you're willing, we can perform the ceremony tonight."

"What for?" I asked as calmly as I could, still holding onto the white, fuzzy cloth though it offered no protection.

"You'd have the pack's protection and loyalty behind you."

I looked at him head on for a moment and shook my own head ruefully. "All right. Let me go get dressed."

"Here." He tossed me a shopping bag full of clothes. "We couldn't salvage anything from your grandfather's house so I asked Sakura and Hinata to go shopping."

"Are you bankrupt now?"

He laughed easily. "Not quite, but it was certainly an interesting receipt."

"Why Sakura?"

"We were trying to cheer her up a little."

"Did it help?" I asked, looking at the more formal outfit inside.

Naruto grinned. "Hinata's a miracle worker. I doubt there's anyone she can't somehow calm." After a moment, he went on. "Why don't you get dressed and then meet me out back, in the woods. You can't miss it."

"Kay," I said as he left and watched him go.

My body missed him already and he'd barely walked out the door. I felt oddly pathetic for wanting something when even I knew the same rules didn't apply. Just because their goddess thought us mates...what did that even mean, exactly.

_Less sickeningly romantic indeed..._

***

I couldn't help but wonder if either of the two women had ever seen the inside of my closet after putting the provided outfit. It was a pair of beige-colored slacks, black shoes, and a long-sleeved white shirt. Someone had thoughtfully sewn the Uchiha family crest across the right breast pocket of the shirt; touching it brought back enough emotions that I had to breathe for a moment to keep from crying.

When I felt like moving again, I left the towel folded neatly in the bathroom and made my way out of the apartment building. The sun was starting to set, coloring the blue shy shades of orange and the air smelled of upcoming rain. I followed a dirt path through the tree line and into a small clearing where Naruto and Neji already waited. I caught sight of Tenten, but she kept her distance from me and the ritual.

I'd seen one other Ceremony of Joining before and knew, to some extent, what would happen next. Still, chills ran up my spine as the blonde came to stand beside me and Neji pulled a small knife out from his belt. The dark-haired second-in-command stood up off the rock he was sitting on—the altar—and approached us. If he held any disdain for the situation, he was keeping it well in check because his face was properly solemn and his gaze blank.

"Tonight we call to the goddess of the moon, under whose watchful gaze we reside, and ask for her blessing as a new member joins the hunt." His voice was slow and melodious, a prayer of piety.

_He really believes,_ I thought with a twinge of surprise.

Neji went on after a moment of silence. "We share our blood, so our brother may become one with us, and we offer it to the goddess."

He took the knife and drew its sharp edge across his palm, not even wincing as a line of blood followed it. He held his hand above the altar as a few crimson drops fell leisurely onto the smooth stone, and then the cut closed cleanly. He passed the knife to Naruto gingerly and then took a step back, taking his place inside what I now saw to be a large star symbol drawn in chalk on the ground.

The blonde followed suit. "As Alpha, I accept Sasuke Uchiha and offer him a place among us, goddess permitting." He too shed blood before giving the ritual dagger to me. Softly, he said, "It's going to hurt."

The smell of blood made me giddy; almost despite myself, I wanted to howl at the sky. If right then, I had been a beast, it would run until it couldn't breathe anymore for sheer joy. Holding the knife steady, I cut a thin line across my own palm and watched, mesmerized, as it dripped warm across my hand down to the altar.

The circle under our feet began to glow, a steady blue shine that felt more like a glimmer with the sun still up. And then I did scream, out of fear and joy and happiness and a thousand other feelings I couldn't even hope to express. The dagger fell out of my hands, but the sensation lingered; I was crying and couldn't understand why.

_The beat inside us usually takes over right about now_, thought Naruto calmly, _but this. It's enough._

Neji took a deep breath as the blood vanished from the altar. "The sacrifice has been accepted." He wrapped his arms around me for a moment in a strangled hug before stepping back. "Welcome to the Running with Scissors Blood Pack."

"Who named it that?" I asked cautiously and Neji rolled his eyes at Naruto.

"Ah," I whispered, "self explanatory."

"What sort of goddess allows a human this kind of privilege," Tenten mumbled.

"The kind that already knows what happens next," I said and to this day, I haven't the faintest clue as to why.


	12. Re education

_Our days are precious and so few..._

"Just keep talking," I begged Naruto when it felt like the pain would put me under.

He stood across the room from me, not even sweating, because for him beating me to a pulp was a piece of cake. I, on the other hand, felt like someone had tossed me into a meat grinder, complete with a brand new set of cuts and bruises. Neji sat in the back, leaning comfortably in his chair and glaring at the two of us every so often.

"You're doing great?" offered the blonde helpfully.

I rolled my eyes at him, aware that it had to be at least two in the morning. "No, I'm not."

"Sasuke, you're still standing after four hours of this. Of course, you're doing great."

"Yeah, but I still can't dodge half the shit you throw at me." I got up, momentarily dizzy, and picked up the sword I'd managed to lose sometime during the last fight. "Talk about something else."

"Fine. What do you want to know?"

He lunged at me and just for a brief moment, I thought I knew where he'd strike. I even managed to block his arm with my wooden sword-stick before he caught with his leg across my shins and down I went. Again. Even my teeth felt rattled by that fall.

"Why isn't mating the same thing as falling in love?"

That stunned my training partner long enough for me to get up and bonk him across the shoulders, but he was too damn quick and sturdy to care. His left hand grasped my sword while his right swung out for enough to catch me across my side. Groaning, I let go—that explained why I kept losing my weapon—and stepped back, barely keeping balance.

"Because it's not a choice," he answered and made the come-at-me gesture. "The goddess decides for us, and the decision, once made, can never be _unmade_."

I practically walked toward him, too fucking tired to run and too sweaty to care, and threw a punch in his general direction. It landed but still hurt like hell. _Made of concrete, I see._ The thought floated somewhere in my head but never made it out into the world. I pulled back, tried again, jumping upward this time and aiming for the neck. He grabbed my arm and the next thing I knew, my back met the wall. Also, again.

"Sometimes, we fall in love with our mates first. Other times, it's completely out of the blue. You can know someone forever and discover one day that he or she is the one."

I couldn't muster enough strength to get up. "How come?"

"We change. Once we become who we're going to be, we're ready to mate." Naruto walked over and sat down next to me. "Turn around, back to me."

I did, whimpering all the while because it hurt like hell. "But I thought you said you liked me."

"I do, but the moment I did, I knew that's what it was."

"That's messed up."

"Tell me about it." This from Neji the Sulking.

Naruto put his hands on my shoulders and started massaging. I wasn't aware that he knew how to and was pleasantly surprised when the pain began to subside.

"It's not all as bad as he makes it out to be," Hinata said in her soft voice as she walked into the room, carrying bottles of water and tuna sandwiches. "Once you get to know your mate, you'll fall in love for sure, if you aren't already. The goddess doesn't get it wrong. You really are meant for each other."

Neji smirked. "Only you can be so optimistic about it. I mean, come on. Kiba? He's a mutt."

Brother and sister glared at each other before the dark-haired woman smiled at the two of us. "Eat, both of you, and then get some rest. You'll have plenty of time to fight tomorrow."

I looked at my torn up hands and already the cuts were closing up and bruises slowly disappearing. It was amazing and creepy all at once. Naruto handed me one of the bottles because, unlike yours truly, he could still walk and breathe at the same time. Instead of drinking, I spilled it across my head.

The second-in-command got up and gave me what might have been a curious look. "It's my turn tomorrow," he said calmly, "and I'm not nearly as nice as our Alpha."

Turning, he walked out the door and Hinata rushed after him, chattering calmly about him and clothes.

"I think he's trying to piss me off."

"He's testing you. It's his job."

I gave Naruto a droll look. "Someone should really pull that stick out of his ass."

The blonde crossed his fingers. "Here's hoping Tenten's it."

I couldn't help laughing. "Keep dreaming."

We finished eating casually and then the blonde dragged me off to bed. I didn't even complain when he turned on the shower, too tired to argue. After putting on pajamas, I slipped into bed next to the were-fox and closed my eyes. Sleep came as quickly as it had been promising to. Ah. Bliss.

***

The Gathering was moved back a day because of flooding somewhere out west that prevented several packs from arriving on time. I found about it from a very cheerful Hinata the next morning when she roused both of us in her quiet, pull-the-blankets-off kind of way. One moment, I'd been warm and comfortable and the next freezing; Naruto, feathers entirely unruffled, took it all in stride.

"That's great news," he said just as happily. "Gives us another day to prepare."

I could almost imagine Neji, who was thankfully absent, saying, _"More time to buy a coffin."_ Hinata, completely oblivious to my thoughts, went on to explain that the day was all planned out and we just needed to get up now and make haste. The blonde shooed her away before curling up beside me.

"When this is over, we should experiment," he said hopefully.

"Horny bastard?" I asked cautiously.

He was pouting. "What's so wrong with that? I like you."

I looked down between us pointedly. "Unless I missed something in health class, this can't possibly end well."

"We're not the first couple to do this, you know."

"Fine, you pervert, if I survive the coming Gathering, we can go somewhere private and make some discoveries about the mating rituals of horny foxes. Until then, you keep your pheromones to yourself!"

I got up, not even looking at the blonde, but I couldn't exactly escape his laughter. "You can be so damn stubborn sometimes."

"Well, just sucks to be you," I said and got dressed. "Wanna go see Neji turn me into mush?"

He got up and nodded, all the mischief of an imp reflected in his eyes. "I'll even bring popcorn." A little bit more seriously, he said, "Have you considered using magic against your opponents?"

"You mean the lightning?"

"Sure." He shrugged. "Just because you're fighting against an opponent who can't do magic doesn't mean you should hold back."

I pondered this all the way back to the gym-room turned training area. Neji and I never did get along after that...


	13. Enemy

_Gotta know the enemy..._

Unlike humans, who hold elections, shape shifters leave such decisions up to fights that last until either someone surrenders or dies. Naruto hastened to reassure me that most of the time, the loser gives up long before ending up in a coffin, but with particularly stupid or stubborn opponents, even the audience gets to taste blood sometimes. I had at one point asked about betting against the outcome and, with a low whistle, Naruto told me to hurry up.

As I entered the training arena—which had once been a room full of weight-lifting equipment—I suddenly got the impression that indeed, betting is part of the shifter culture. Otherwise, I could find no logical excuse for why half the pack had managed to somehow stuff itself into the corners of a moderately-sized room. I have no idea what kind of spectacle they had come to see, but there they stood. I looked back at the door, saw Naruto standing guard over it, and shook my head.

"_I'm gonna find you after this is over and rip your fur out," _I thought in his general direction.

That familiar and annoying grin spread across his face, the one that told he was part of the betting pool I wasn't supposed to know about. _"You're cute when you're angry."_

"_Shut up!"_

Silently glad that the whole conversation was going on in my head and no one else was privy to it, I walked into the middle of a make-shift ring and faced an opponent a good head taller than me. Damn Neji was smirking like he knew he was going to win—not a bad assumption to take given the situation—but I honestly wished he was a little less smug about the whole thing.

Hinata, in all her wolfish wisdom, had taken the role of referee and was wielding a whistle as though it were a weapon. Her long hair was tied back loosely with a bright red ribbon, and I noticed a man lingering behind her with a similar ribbon wrapped around his forearm.

"_That's Kiba," _Naruto offered, _"Hinata's mate. I think he's here to watch you take down Neji."_

It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the two men didn't like each other—made me wonder who Neji could get along with._ "I don't stand a chance."_

"_Some people here think otherwise. You don't wanna disappoint them, do you?"_

"_How do you know?"_

I didn't have time to pay attention to the answer as Neji tossed me a sword and I discovered it was far from the wooden stick I'd been using the night before. This thing weighed more, and when I touched the sharp edge, it cut skin as thought it were water. A strange ornament graced the handle and engraved symbols I didn't recognize wound their way up the metal of the sword itself.

"Are you sure about this?" I asked my sparring partner.

The blank look on his face rivaled that of any wall. "Don't hold back."

Hinata blew the whistle—it rang in my ears—and then I couldn't think of anything but the battle because Neji was nothing if not sickeningly fast. He was also precise, not a single motion wasted, which meant that every hit hurt that much more. I lunged at him maybe once for every three times he threw me somewhere. Several of these throws landed me straight into the cheering onlookers.

Blocking one of his attacks with something vaguely resembling an actual stance—at least all my limbs were close to their intended positions—I hit him lightly across the leg. Neji's apparent reaction was to kick me hard enough that I flew five feet off the ground. I had enough time to think that my back wouldn't appreciate hitting the ceiling before I came down again, face first, and slammed into the mat on the floor.

"_Aww, come on, Sasuke. You can do better than that."_ I glanced sideways at my mate, saw him grinning like a mad scientist, and couldn't help feel pissed.

Slowly, the anger was starting to build, at being thrown around like a rag doll and also at Naruto's uncharacteristic goading. He'd never pushed me before, not really into anything, and his attitude was ticking me off. Standing up again, now sweaty and bloody, I grasped the sword with both hands and lightning flashed across the blade.

I watched its arcing motion and saw Neji's next attack out of the corner of my eye. Partially turning, I brought the weapon up to block his incoming hit and sent the lightning forward, not entirely sure it was going to work. To my surprise, it did and the ensuing electrical shock knocked my stunned opponent off his feet. The pack was briefly silenced, and I along with them.

Neji rose, smiled, and came at me. "That's better, punk."

"What the fuck?" I demanded, or tried to, before he knocked the wind out of me.

"Talk less, fight more," he offered and backed up.

We circled each other as though I knew what the hell I was doing—in reality, I was just afraid of getting too close to the wolf—until he attacked again. Dodging out of the way, I moved forward and to the side just enough to get under his upraised right arm and smack his side with the handle of my own sword. Lightning flashed again, almost to my own surprise, and Neji went down once more.

Someone in the audience—I didn't know most of the names—said, "This can't possibly last long."

Hinata grinned and replied, "They're both stubborn assholes. Someone's either gonna lose an arm or an eye before it's said and done."

"Isn't that why you're here?" Kiba teased.

She giggled. "Maybe..."

My body met several more walls before it occurred to me that defending myself wasn't going to get me far. I might survive a little longer, but Neji had more stamina and strength; in a battle of attrition, he could outlast me by hours. Gripping the sword with both hands, I went for him. It had to happen quickly and decisively or else, not at all.

He blocked, but I was shorter and with a duck, slammed my foot against his shins. It didn't hurt him the way the same move could knock me down, but it was enough to keep him occupied. I let go of the sword and a ball of electricity formed in my now free palm. He reached out to grab me, and I slammed the ball into him. As he backed up, I picked up my sword and thrust toward his stomach. Blue light danced along the blade as it moved forward and I watched it, mezmerized.

Hinata blew the whistle and Naruto, in a burst of speed usually reserved for cheetahs, pulled me back before the sword connected.

"Sasuke wins this round," she announced and suddenly, I saw why.

Even without my sword, Neji's shirt had been burned and the current must've gone through because the same mark now graced his abdomen. Not quite the heart, but it had to hurt.

"I..."

Kiba walked over and shook my hand. "That was something else. Welcome to the pack, kid."

Neji groaned and stormed out of the room, with Tenten at his heels. I watched him go and felt briefly relieved. That relief didn't last as members of the pack who'd never met me before decided that this was the perfect time for introductions. I didn't like crowds or being touched by strangers, yet here I stood, lost in a room full of people. Briefly, I could see Naruto standing back a couple of feet and smiling.

"_Your fur is mine!"_

"_And the rest of me?"_

I rolled my eyes and made a run for it. One of these days I'd get him back for all the humor at my expense.

***

Escalus: Sasuke hasn't had the best couple of days. It's bound to make anyone just a bit more cynical.


	14. Fighting

_Does the pain outweigh the pride?_

I still don't know why I ran for the woods. I am not exactly an outdoorsy kind of person, but right then, still pumped full of adrenaline from the fight, I wanted to be alone somewhere and the forest seemed inviting. It was almost sundown, but the sun still shone through the leafy canopy above my head, casting the ground in ever shifting shadows. Leaving Naruto's home behind, I walked off the beaten path and into the trees, feeling the need to run.

My feet knew where to go even if I didn't, taking some path I couldn't even recognize. Eventually, the trees thinned and finally backed off entirely as the ground turned to sand and the smell of the ocean hit me. Tired and sore—it was dark now—I stopped and fell forward, landing on my knees beside the water. With no city lights to hide the sky, it was full of stars when I looked up, marred only by scattered clouds.

I'd gone to the beach with my grandfather not long before he passed on. I could still remember him standing and watching seagulls circling overhead, cawing for food.

"Some people are born to destroy things," he'd said, bending over with as groan so he could scoop up some sand. "Others put everything back together again." He let the sand fall back down, his hand a make-shift sieve. "But not you, Sasuke, nor your mother."

I knew grandpa was just as likely to make sense as speak utter nonsense, but sitting here, all alone, I thought he was probably right. I reached out and touched the cold water as it lapped against the shore in gentle, slow waves. With the sky reflected in its depths, it looked full of glimmering lights; another night to mirror the one above my head.

I heard the man strolling across the beach toward me long before I caught sight of a shadow moving across the sand. He wasn't trying to hide, nor to fool me; instead, he was walking with a sense of purpose. Even in the dark, I could see better now than ever before, as though someone turned on a light that followed my vision.

The first thing I noticed about the stranger were his pitch black eyes; I saw madness in their depths and cunning. I didn't need to look that far to know he was dangerous. That was written in his every motion, even step, every slow breath. When he stopped, a good fifty feet away, I was afraid—he carried no weapon, yet fear lodged itself in my heart.

"Hm..." The man smiled and seeing that cold grin made a shiver crawl up my spine. "So you're the little Uchiha." His voice was velvet soft, emotionless, as empty as a long-abandoned well.

"Who are you?" I stood up, all lanky bones and odd angles.

The man blinked just once, a coiled snake ready to strike. "My name is Orochimaru, boy."

He snapped his fingers once and the flame-demon who'd burned down Grandpa's house jumped out of a tree to land neatly beside his master. The creature brought with it a scent of rotting flesh and sulfur, though it burned not nearly hot enough to turn the sand beneath its feet into glass. It grinned and looked up at the man.

"And this is a fallen angel." He smiled once more, no less creepy the second time around, and gestured at me. "Come with me."

"No..."

My voice faltered. The urge to obey was strong, pushed down only by fear and confusion. I wanted badly to do as he asked and didn't at the same time. Slowly, my brain was being torn apart.

"Don't resist, Sasuke." The man laughed. "You can't resist. It will only drive you crazy."

My head hurt as it fought against itself—I couldn't tell which side was winning—until a howl echoed inside my skull. Slowly, the urge died down, replaced by something else entirely, something feral and angry. It smelled the man and knew him only as an enemy, and it left me breathless.

"So, he's bound you, huh?" Orochimaru sighed, not quite sadly. "I suppose it can't be avoided."

He took a step forward, away from the monster, and began forming symbols with his hands. Suddenly, my right shoulder ached, and the pain spread, slowly crawling across my body. It hurt to move, to breathe, to think and I fell back onto the sand.

I remember thinking that I was going to pass out, but before the pain got bad enough someone else intervened. Actually, I wasn't entirely certain of that at first because what came from the forest was a giant frog with a smoking pipe in one hand and dressed in a robe of sorts. One of those moments when I felt sure I had to be dreaming even when its footsteps shook the ground in a very realistic fashion.

"Why did you call me, Jiraiya?" demanded the five-story-tall toad. "You know I hate salt water. I also don't appreciate being called on such short notice."

Whoever he was talking to was sitting on his head and replied a little less loudly. "Relax. I haven't seen you in ages."

"And that's fine enough with me."

Orochimaru, to his credit, looked only mildly surprised at the new arrival. He approached me and reached out with one hand, pulling back my shirt to reveal his own mark. I watched in silent horror as his tongue flickered out of his mouth and licked it. I tried to get away from him but couldn't move.

"Keep your hands off the kid."

"You always spoil the fun, hermit." Orochimaru rose, slithered upwards was more like. "Keep your nose out of my business."

The man sitting on top of the monster toad laughed. "If it involves Naruto, it's also my business."

"Are you going blind? This boy isn't Naruto."

"No, but he and fox are connected, and Tsunade has specifically asked me to keep an eye on the Uchiha."

"Why are the two greatest fighters of their time so interested in a human boy?" Orochimaru backed up as the toad took one huge step forward.

Jiraiya shrugged. "Maybe we just have nothing better to do in our old ago."

"Fine, if it's a battle you want, you're gonna get one. The boy is mine and I claim him."

"Bring it."

For the first time in the very brief span of time I'd known the hermit, he sounded perfectly sober. It was also practically the last such moment. More hand symbols later—seals, as the hermit calls them—Orochimaru jumped onto a newly summoned snake. I lay on the sand between them, not so much afraid of dying—that seemed inevitable in a battle of giants—as afraid of what they would do to each other.

It was Naruto who pulled me out of the way just before the two creatures lunged. We rolled out of the way and into the ocean. It was wet and cold, but it dulled the pain. The shifter pulled me close against his heaving chest, and I could hear the steady beating of his heart.

"Are you all right?"

I managed a nod. "Been better."

"God, you're alive."

Sitting up, I looked at the two beasts. "What the hell is going on?"

"I was kind of hoping you wouldn't ask..."

"Too late."

The blonde sighed. "Let me take you home. I think there's a book you'll want to see."

I looked at him and wanted to argue but the desperate look in Naruto's blue eyes made me pause. I reached over hesitantly and wrapped my arms around his shoulders, pulling the man closer and savoring his warmth against the chill of the night. He didn't seem to mind, not the wet clothes and not my shivering frame.

_Naruto?_

"I wish I could protect you from those things that hide in the night," he said softly, almost whispering in my ear as he rose, lifting me clear off the ground.

I nuzzled my face against the side of his neck. "It's all right. Sometimes, the truth is protection enough."

He nodded and started walking back toward his apartment, still carrying me. "Sometimes..."

"Have faith, Naruto. If there is a future for me, you'll be a part of it."

He sighed and held me ever closer. "I worry, my one and only, that your future is not so long as I might wish it."

I kissed his cheek and held back tears because he was right. Maybe I would go the way of the rest of my family and follow the ever even path of bittersweet mortality. Maybe...


	15. Survive

_You and I must fight to survive..._

***

I had no idea who the seven-foot-tall freak was supposed to be—some cross between a biker and a sumo wrestler—but almost before he opened his mouth I didn't like the man. When he finally did speak, my dislike turned into simmering hatred. I could not recall ever having to stand for Naruto because so few people ever challenged him—too laid back—and this was a first.

"Too girly to find yourself a real mate," sneered the brown-haired thug.

It was an insult aimed at the blonde, and though the were-fox could take perfectly good care of himself—he was a walking tank, after all—I felt a sudden rush of anger. Who was he to talk about my mate like that? _Who was he?_ That was an even better question, but one I couldn't answer.

"Shut up!" My mouth opened and the words came out.

The tall man looked over at me and smirked. "You wanna start something?"

Next to me, Kiba put a restraining hand on my shoulder. "Relax. Naruto's not a dummy."

"That just..." I whispered, looking at the ground. "I don't know why I even said that."

The dark-haired were-dog smiled and tousled my hair against his mate's protests. "It's normal. You're part of a pack, and we defend each other to the death."

"I thought it was a matter of stubbornness?"

Hinata smiled somewhat sadly. "Sometimes. Not most of the time."

So they fought to protect one another. I found myself faintly surprised at their loyalty to the blond-haired shifter. He'd never much posed as a leader, never really gave orders or commands, but they were bound to him with the kind of respect most humans never saw, much less deserved. I looked up at his tanned face and found it grinning.

"You really wanna stoop so low as to fight a mere human?" Naruto asked so calmly I felt myself relaxing. "Not that it says anything about my mate's strength, but he is human and mortal."

Kiba also smiled cheerfully. "Naruto can do politics when he wants to."

The thug growled but didn't back off. "You fuckers think you can side step the law just because you refuse to participate. The council won't stand for it."

I turned to the the black-haired were-dog and raised an eyebrow. "He hasn't wanted to before?"

"Shape shifter politics are little bit less clear cut than even the human variety, if you can imagine such a thing. Usually, our pack just steers clear entirely. This time around, I don't know if we'll be able to." Hinata paused in her explanation, blushing, then looked at Kiba. "We've never been tested, although hybrid packs tend to fare well enough. With you here, the leaders may be more keen to find out."

"Ah..." It explained the need to learn the uses of a sword.

"Either keep your mouth shut or come at me," suggested the Alpha as though speaking about flowers or the color of the sky. If he had a problem with the situation, he wasn't giving it away.

His opponent backed down, with a growl, not gracefully, and retreated into the crowd. I watched for a moment longer and then we were moving again, steadily forward through the gathering shape shifters. It was easy to tell the different packs apart because even when they mingled with each other, they kept together.

"It's for protection," Naruto explained as he slowed down to walk beside me and let Neji take his place. "Normally different packs don't cross paths much, not on purpose. Here, it's another story entirely."

I frowned, knowing he was looking into my thoughts but didn't bother arguing about it. Another day, maybe, if we survived this one. Someone had set up a giant tent on the beach, and that seemed to be our destination. Kiba started briefly naming the different zones that separated packs when the rest of the shifters quieted. One moment the whole place was filled with voices, from arguments to bartering to even a few misguided singers, and the next it was practically silent.

Hinata pointed discreetly toward a procession of six or so robed strangers who cut a path through the different packs. Shifters parted where they passed, even going as far as bowing their heads. Naruto stood protectively next to me as they moved toward the tent and walked inside.

"The council," explained my self-appointed tour guide with trepidation lingering in her voice even once they were safely out sight. "Between the six of them, they police and rule all the packs in the continental US."

"And they haven't killed each other yet?"

She shook her head. "The Third rules them with an iron grip as they preside over us. He would never allow for such blatant violence."

"The Third?"

"It's a title. He is the third to lead us all." Hinata smiled wanly.

Neji turned to us—I had no idea what he was doing the rest of the time, but his eyes looked even weirder now—and said quietly, "Trouble at three o'clock. They've been sizing up Sasuke for a good ten minutes."

Naruto rolled his eyes at this revelation. "Let's just go find our usual spot and we can deal with any problems as they come."

The pack's _usual spot_ turned out to be a small bit of sand just outside the tent, comfortably away from the council members who sat on a raised platform in the back. Hinata and two others whose names I was still learning spread out several large blankets on the sand and slowly pulled out supplies for lunch. It felt like we were having a large, happy picnic if everyone didn't look so tense and worried.

"I take it this isn't supposed to quite so...serious..."

The shifter next to me, Shikamaru if my memory wasn't totally going, shrugged. "It's so troublesome."

"Um..."

"We gather together to collectively piss each other off and then we go our separate ways for a year. It's too much of a hassle for no reward."

Playfully, Hinata stuck out her tongue. "It's ritual."

"It's troublesome," said the man calmly and lay down in the sand. "Now cloud watching..."

Kiba nudged my shoulder. "Don't mind him. Shika is great tactician but lazy."

"Cloud watching is a time honored ritual, too," grumbled said tactician.

I sat down on the sand, mindful of the clothes Hinata had picked out for the occasion, and stared out at the slowly coalescing sea of people—something like a thousand different individuals representing hundreds of clans from varying parts of the country. Most of them were dressed to show off muscle as proof of strength and prowess. Regardless of their daily lives, here they had to do look dangerous enough to keep off someone else's list.

"Why do packs compete?"

"Hunting territory," Kiba replied, handing me a sandwich. "Well, territory in general, I suppose. It's not just for the hunt."

I was pondering this when a young woman approached our group. I recognized her as Ino, who'd previously come to the garage looking for Grandpa. The rest of the pack clearly didn't know of her because they tensed. She was meanwhile smiling in that I'm-harmless kind of way. The faked smile looked so human—were-creatures, as far as I knew, never outright lied with their bodies—it was almost out of place.

"Hey, no trouble," she said casually. "I just saw the kid and thought I'd say hi."

"You know Sasuke how?" That was Naruto, defiantly overprotective.

I stood up. "We've met."

She nodded once, pale hair pulled back. "His granddad fixed a couple of older cars for my father last spring."

"Yeah, my grandfather was a genius around cars..."

The thug from the previous encounter was storming toward us even as I watched him past Ino's shoulder. Following my gaze, she turned around and I caught her shivering and frowning at the man. Six shifters—pack members—suddenly switching into a defensive pose made me think of lions at the zoo. Dangerous and unpleasant.

This time he wasn't alone. A woman trailed casually alongside him, red-headed and grinning maniacally. As they approached, Ino moved back and walked straight into Neji, who gave her a single glare before putting himself between her and the oncoming shifters. That was the first time I'd seen any actual chivalry on his part and was surprised he cared enough to protect anyone besides the alpha.

They approached, stopped a few feet away, and the woman practically bounced on her feet. "Name's Karin. I'm the mate of the alpha and I challenge your mate to a fight. You know the rules."

Behind her, the thug managed a smile. "What'cha gonna do now?"

"OK," I said a little too calmly. "Permit me to use a sword since obviously I don't have claws?"

She spit on the ground. "Fine."

I looked back at Naruto once and picked up my weapon off the ground, unsheathing a sword I could actually lift and swing with some accuracy. That was the key to all this because the next moment, Karin wasn't human. Unlike Neji, who was probably equally strong either as a human or as a wolf, she preferred her animal form. Staring down a cheetah as tall as you but on all fours is no fun at all.

Kiba grumbled. "Is this such a wise idea?"

I was starting to get used to noticing people's footsteps or breath before they snuck up on me, but the old man managed to surprise me completely. One moment, I was facing Karin the redhead turned beast from the Sahara desert and praying that she was no harder to stop than Neji—because that was a guaranteed death sentence—and the next there was a stranger standing between us.

He had a short white beard and similar gray hair, still a shape shifter but clearly well past his prime. Nonetheless, I could practically feel his power seeping out like a mild headache at the edge of my mind. He was smoking from an old-fashioned pipe.

"Ah." He sighed. "The Gathering hasn't even begun and already you stir up trouble. But, I suppose it can't be avoided."

"_The Third." _Naruto looked at me, and a sense of awe permeated his thoughts.

"I shall preside over this match, and should the human win, he will not be disturbed again for the rest of this meeting." The Third looked at Naruto. "Consider this the test for your pack."

I'd never seen the blonde look both angry and sheepish all at once, but apparently awe didn't exactly hold his tongue in check. "Aww, come on, that's not fair."

"I, Naruto, do not have to be fair."

Neji managed a snicker. "You had this planned all along."

The old man winked. "How could I possibly know who the goddess might pick as mate for your Alpha?" He moved out of the way. "Well, you two, make it look good."

Grumble.

I faced off against the cheetah, knowing its speed well outpaced my own, but lady luck was on my side that day. Karin was fast and she could read the flow of magic, but she lacked sheer strength—the woman couldn't knock me back—and my own power remained to unpredictable for her to guess accurately. Current arced along the edges of my blade as I rushed at her and the battle began.

She also seemed disinterested in attacking, keeping on the defensive, and several times my blade caught her flank almost entirely by accident. God forbid I land even one blow intentionally...

Her claws left their own marks on my arms, staining the clothes Hinata had picked out for me, and I felt worse about the stains than about being hit. It hurt, but this was a familiar pain, not the mind-shattering horrors of the night before.

So we danced under the summer sky because battle is indeed a dance, and slowly I learned that Neji had been special. Electricity merely stunned and annoyed him, whereas the cheetah actually lost its shape when I struck. It made a twisted kind of sense—the pack's second had been born human and that was his shape of choice. Karin had chosen her other form and the electrical current kept popping her back into naked human

The final stroke of lightning was actually accompanied by thunder, despite a perfectly cloudless, blue sky, and after the woman fell, she lay still on the ground, no longer cheetah. The Third stepped in and out of courtesy I bowed when I he stood between us once more, with a grandfatherly smile on his face.

"Cause I like you all too much," he said jovially. "Sasuke wins. Now, if you're all done bleeding, I think it's time for the Gathering."

"What the fuck?" demanded the previously silent thug.

The Third turned to him and said nothing, but suddenly our attacker grabbed Karin and retreated. I didn't even ask.

***

greatstars: The picture I was looking at had black eyes, so that would be entirely my mistake. From hence forth, I declare his eyes yellow? :D


End file.
